


War in Hermittown

by Causemufins



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Avian!Grian, DreamSMP - Freeform, Hermit!Tommy AU, Hermitcraft - Freeform, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Time displacement AU, Triplet AU, Vault God!Mumbo, Vault Gods, Watcher!Grian, Watchers, here there be curses, hermit!tommy, other characters not mentioned in tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 56,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29190615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Causemufins/pseuds/Causemufins
Summary: During his Exile, Tommy disappeared, having run off to Hermitcraft. Dream has figured that out and months later has now found a way to enter Hermitcraft himself. And he's bringing the rest of the SMP, because this means war.Tommy has been living with the Hermits for a few years now. They've helped him recover from his life in the Dream SMP and now he's one of them. But when they get a message of Tubbo joining the server and that Dream is right behind him, Tommy knows that he'll have to confront his past once again, but this time, he's got a real family.When Grian found out that Tommy was one of the brothers he lost so long ago, he was so happy. But when he learned about the rest of his family and how they had fallen, Grian made it his job to make sure Tommy didn't fall the same way. With Dream coming for his brother, Grian needs to make sure he doesn't fall either.
Relationships: Charles | Grian & TommyInnit, Jordan Maron & Cuptoast | Crumb, Jordan Maron & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Oliver Brotherhood & Charles | Grian, Oliver Brotherhood/Charles | Grian, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, TommyInnit & Technoblade & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit
Comments: 161
Kudos: 610





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was introduced to hermitcraft fics and then the Hermit!Tommy au and my friend likes the Dream smp and I ended up writing some stuff for it. there's more on my tumblr https://votederpycausemufins.tumblr.com/ but i'm uploading this one long piece here.

Dream smiled wildly under his mask as he stared at the portal that stood in front of him. It was no nether portal, the only resemblance being the purple color between the blocks of the frame. Said blocks were eight pure diamond blocks making an almost five by three shape. It had taken months to learn of the design and get it to work properly, but here it was. Known only as the infinity portal, Dream knew this was just what he was after.

A few other players stood near him, having assisted in the creation of the portal at Dream’s demands and threats. It had started when Tommy disappeared. When everyone realized, there were a range of emotions, but almost everyone knew that there would be no way to find Tommy. They hadn’t noticed for who knows how long after he left, leaving no trail. Dream was the only one who thought there might be a way to find his lost ‘friend’. And that idea became real when at a MCC tournament with Tubbo, the compass the boy always wore stopped spinning once again. And even then, learning that had been chance when in the middle of a game the normally hidden item had come loose.

Dream never saw Tommy so he assumed that he was simply in the crowd and not participating, which made it harder to pin him down, but with the return portals going group by group, it was easy to see the compass stop tracking Tommy after the Hermitcraft group left.

The initial knowledge left Dream shocked and even doubting a return of Tommy. That place was known as a very well protected place. It was likely that Tommy’s arrival caused those that resided in Hermittown would have their admin making things harder to bypass. And at the same time, someone who could get through like Tommy did, even by chance, would likely be heavily monitored. It’s just how Dream would do it.

But not wanting to give up, Dream researched into these people and learned how the Hermits would open their gates briefly before moving on. Based on previous patterns, there was no way Dream would wait months and months before that happened again, but some knowledge has seeped over from the previous event.

Some of the Hermits had found a way to create something called the infinity portal, and immediately Dream knew that would be his way to Tommy. If anything were to get past the Hermit’s protection, it would be something of their own design.

And now here it was, his very own Infinity portal. He had even used his admin powers to give it a little upgrade. A duplicate of Tubbo’s compass was placed into one of the blocks making up the frame. It was slightly dented and scorched from previous attempts and was currently sparking dangerously, but it was all holding. 

Now, speaking of Tubbo, the boy was just to Dream’s right. He grabbed Tubbo a little harshly and pulled him forward. “See, it finally works!” Dream spoke, his voice edging complete madness. “And I’m sure it wouldn’t have without that little trinket of yours, so why don’t you have the honors Tubbo?”

Normally Dream wouldn’t want to give anyone else the chance to get to Tommy before him, but he was smart and knew how to survive. While the portal looked stable and working for the most part, the sparks from the compass told another story. He could go in first and potentially die, or he could use a test dummy. 

Tubbo was too eager to see Tommy once again and didn’t see any problem with going first. He stepped onto the portal and barely gave a second thought about Dream’s Request to come back once he was through to say where exactly they landed. He watched as the world around him warped and turned purple, just as with a nether portal, but the bright white flash that followed was different.

The first thing Tubbo saw was a large turquoise building, but to see it better, he took a step out of the portal and fell into the water a few blocks below. He looked back up at the portal and then at the ocean floor before using the blocks he had on him to build back up to the portal. As he did so, he could feel his communicator buzzing madly. Tubbo finally looked at the thing once he reached the portal again and made a small platform around it.

<MumboJumbo> Did someone make a new cam-drone?

<Tango> Not me

<Grian> Might be Tommy, he’s the only one afk right now

<joehillssays> name sounds familiar and he doesn’t normally use them, so might be an old one.

Tubbo stared at the communicator, there were more messages, but only the first few mattered to him, specifically the message with Tommy’s name in it. He couldn’t be completely sure that it was his friend though, but before he could look at the list of other users, two new messages came in.

<TommyInnit> Guys, please just let me have this one, it’s really important.

<TommyInnit> Tubbo how the fuck

Tubbo couldn’t help but tear up at the message. He started typing back, sure his message was coming out poorly due to the tears messing with his already impared vision, but there was a ping as his message was sent before he walked through the portal again.

  
  


Tommy had finished afking near Mumbo’s industrial district, having turned off his communicator so he could just sit and watch the machines go. As he turned everything off again, he unmuted the device just to have a flood of messages show up. He scrolled up until a yellow one caught his eye.

Tubbo_ joined the server

Tubbo. His Tubbo. How was he here? Tommy had to know, and even if the other Hermits would get upset at his language, it was all he could think of right now. He sent a message, hoping Tubbo would see it and that this wasn’t all some huge mistake. After the messages were sent, he stared at the communicator until another message was sent. Seeing Tubbo’s name in a message made his heart soar, but it immediately seemed to stop as he actually read the response.

<Tubbo_> Dream’s been trying to find a way to you for months and he finally did it! I’m going to be right back with him and the others!

Tubbo_ left the server.

Tubbo was one thing but Dream was another. Tommy could feel himself trembling. He had found a way in. Tommy’s worst fears were coming true. But then another message came in.

<Grian> Alright, guess I’m breaking out the axe again

<Stressmonster101> I’m already headed to my brewing area.

<xisumavoid> Looks like they used an infinity portal.

<Docm77> I have nothing to do with it

Tommy managed to smile just a little at how quick everyone was jumping into action at the mention of his own admin. As more Hermits chimed in, Tommy sent his own message.

<TommyInnit> Dream is the real threat. I don’t think Tubbo would be helping if he knew the full story or is being threatened or something. I’m not sure who else will come, but just maim and capture anyone besides those two unless I say otherwise.

  
  


After what seemed like an eternity, Tubbo stepped back through the portal. He was dripping wet but had a huge smile on his face and Dream knew Tommy had to be on the other side.

“He’s there! He’s really there!” Tubbo was practically bouncing around.

“You’re wet.” Came the deadpan tone of Techno’s voice as he stepped closer, now knowing the portal was working.

“Yeah, it sort of spawned over an ocean but I made a platform and everything.”

“Good job Tubbo.” Dream spoke before anyone else could. “Now we can go help free Tommy from wherever these people have trapped him and bring him home.”

“Well, when I showed up, Tommy was able to use a communicator which is how I know he’s really there, so maybe he isn’t trapped and need rescuing?” Tubbo asked meekly.

“If that were true, wouldn’t he have come back Tubbo? If not for all of us, if not for his home, why didn’t he come back for you?”

Tubbo didn’t respond and Dream pushed past him to be right in front of the portal. He turned around to face the others he had collected there and pulled out his axe. “We don’t know what all will be there to ‘greet’ us once we go looking, so better to arm yourselves now. And the sooner we go through, the better.” And with that, he stepped into the portal.

When he reached the other side, his communicator immediately started buzzing. With no one in sight, Dream pulled it out to read what these Hermits were getting up to. He couldn’t help but laugh at the messages coming in. It seemed that they were torturing Tommy or something. This would be easy. Behind him, more people from the SMP came through the portal. They had weapons at the ready and even looked a little disappointed at the lack of a battle on the other side.

Dream pointed out the two landmarks that were best visible, a large turquoise tower and an island littered with buildings. While the tower was closer, Techno pointed out the building was made of warped wood, so it would be tough to deal with. The island on the other hand, it was so full with buildings that obviously plenty of these Hermits had to be living there. It was surprising it didn’t look like more of a mess.

Tubbo was the only one to notice a small island with a single chest on it. After close inspection, the chest was in no way trapped and Dream laughed when he saw it was filled with boats. “It’s like they’re asking us to attack them!”

After placing down a number of boats, Dream and the rest of his group rowed towards the island. A few people stayed out of the boats and swam in the water. While they weren’t as fast, it was better than having everyone vulnerable as they rowed.

They had nearly reached the island when there was the distinct sound of a firework being fired. Techno was the first to jump out his boat, looking for the source, but as the seconds went on, there was no explosion. Instead, another firework went off and a shadow passed over the boats.

Looking up, the group saw a figure with giant wings, a trail of smoke behind them. Techno fired his crossbow at them, but the flier swerved out of the way before diving at the group. Boats moved to get out of the flight path, but Dream stood in place and readied his axe. As the figure grew closer, he smiled. Perfect height, red shirt, blonde hair. That was Tommy. “Tommy, glad to see you. It’s been ag-” Dream was cut off and stopped smiling as an axe blade hit him just as Tommy passed him. 

He was about to speak again when there was a laugh. One that sent shivers down his spine. Dream looked around, but the source could only be from the one flying around him. That wasn’t Tommy. “A-Attack the imposter!” He managed to get out, pushing down his fear. There was only one person with that laugh. _The_ dreamslayer.

As Grian swooped down for another attack, a yell from the nearby shore stopped everyone in their tracks, even making Grian slow down as it was someone yelling at him. “Grian! Get back here and give us a chance to be diplomatic about this!” Looking towards the island ahead, Dream could see a figure standing at the shore which the avian now flew towards before landing. Someone aligned with Grian was potentially dangerous as well, but Dream has an army while this new person wanted a peaceful option.

Still, it was an opportunity to get closer safely, so Dream obliged, having Techno follow him. The warrior begrudgingly agreed, this was for his brother after all. He hopped out of his boat and climbed into the back of the one Dream was rowing. Within a few moments they had reached the shore and Techno growled slightly at the sight of this new person. They seemed to have an attempted copy of Tommy’s face as a mask. The one Dream mistook for Tommy wore an identical mask. 

“Hello there. I’m Scar, mayor of Hermitcraft. I’m sure you’re here for Tommy, but I’m afraid he does not want to return with you, and we don’t have that many slots available for new comers at the moment.”

Techno crossed his arms at this ‘mayor’ while Dream let out a curt laugh. “I’m sure that’s what you think, but Tommy is one of us. He has to come back. Especially since staying here leaves his family behind.” Dream gestured to Techno.

“Hey, if they fill out the right paperwork and what not,” Grian started, Scar attempting to interject that he would have to be filling out the paperwork too before being shushed. “The rest of the family can come live here. Isn’t that right Techno?”

Techno barely gave any reaction and Grian shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, I get it. Haven’t seen you in who knows how long. It’s fine.”

Dream glanced over towards Techno. “You know Grian?” Techno replied with a no at the same time Grian replied with a yes. “Either way, that doesn’t matter. Tommy is coming with us.” And Dream swung his axe. Grian quickly intercepted it, but that’s why he had brought backup. Techno used the gap Grian had left and used his own axe on Scar. It only took a single hit as the mayor had come without any armor. In fact, the only things that fell to the ground were two masks, one of Tommy and the other of Scar. 

As Scar was killed, everyone’s communicator buzzed. Dream smiled, now it was a two on one, something this dreamslayer couldn’t possibly win against. But his smile fell as Grian gave a smile of his own. “You know we were giving you a chance. But now everyone knows what’s going on.”

Dream gave a nod and Techno lifted Grian by his shirt. In his other hand he held his axe which was now being positioned over the parrot wings Grian sported. That made the avian flinch which Dream was glad of, but before the axe could fall, there was the sound of plenty of fireworks going off and then the sky was filled with other hermits, all equipped with elytra.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war officially begins and the hermits seem to be better prepared than expected. At the same time, someone other than Tommy remembers their connection with the Hermits.

When the members from the smp looked up, distracted by the numerous flying hermits, Grian gave a flap of his wings, escaping from Techno’s hold. With another flap he was in the air, giving the hermits an opening to throw down a barrage of potions. 

As they were moving, not all the potions hit their target, but even then, the harming potions did a fair amount of damage. In retaliation a few smp members used riptide tridents to get into the air and attack the hermits. They did enough damage to make the hermits retreat higher into the skies. They couldn’t be hit there, but it would be harder for them to send as many attacks.

Dream stared up at the figures obscured by the sun behind them. Maybe they would send some arrows down, but they were being too cautious. He smiled and called for the rest of those from the smp to advance. Any time the hermits tried to come closer to the ground, the smp members would start attacking. Even on unfamiliar ground they were winning, so Dream was sure they would get Tommy back.

Suddenly, two of the hermits swooped down from the skies, one of them crashing into about two buildings as they descended. Dream immediately ran towards them, knowing that after crashing like that, it would be an easy kill.

He ran into what seemed to be a main street, Techno close behind with Philza bringing up the rear. Seeing movement, Techno managed to grab one of the Hermits, they too wore a mask of Tommy, though it was cracked and dented. Dream joined Techno and was more focused on the person. “Ah, Scar was it? Masks don’t seem to be the best protection against crashing into everything you see, now is it?” Dream then yanked the mask off and crushed in under his foot. “We can kill you again, but it would be so much easier if you just hand Tommy over.”

“Well, uh, sorry to disappoint but he doesn’t really want to leave. Again, if you want to do the paperwork.” Scar tried speaking, but Techno stabbed him. Since he was wearing some armor this time, it wasn’t enough to kill him, but it of course still hurt.

“Nothing good comes out of government people like you.” Techno said gruffly. He nearly attacked again but Philza stopped him.

“Please. Tommy’s my son. You can’t keep him from me, from us. At least let us see him.”

Scar actually looked surprised by the words. “Wait, family? Does that mean-? No he would have- I mean I guess it would make sense. But  _ your _ sons?” Philza paused, he was about to ask about the mention of sons,  _ plural _ , but then Scar shook his head. “Well, again, paperwork and all that. I’d love to let you visit, but certain contracts have already been signed.

Philza’s blood went cold as the comment was followed by some mischievous giggles. He drew his sword and started looking everywhere he could. Dream and Techno were confused for a moment, likely not having heard what Phil had. “Vex.” was all he said and suddenly the other two were ready with their own weapons.

Behind them stood a hermit, also with a mask of Tommy, and he had wings on as well, but they didn’t look like elytra. Those were vex wings. Before any of the trio could react to this new foe, he simply gave a snap of his fingers and suddenly they were surrounded by vex.

  
  


While most of the chaos of the battle took place, Tubbo was pulled away by Fundy, both of them swimming deep underwater to escape the eyes in the sky. It only took a few doors to help them breathe before the two of them were sufficiently away from the battle. “Fundy, this is perfect! While everyone is fighting, we can go looking for Tommy.”

The fox looked unsure of himself. Of course he was going to be here when Dream asked, but this seemed like too much. Still, it’s not like he could easily back down right now. “Uh, yeah. In fact, I’ve got some inside info and I think I know where they’re hiding him. We just need to get to a nether portal.”

“Well there’s probably one in the middle of that island, right? So we should go back there?” Tubbo suggested, though Fundy shook his head.

“Everyone’s going to be there, so sneaking to Tommy and back would be hard. Besides, we’re right near some mesa and I’ll bet there’s a portal in there since it’s so close.”

Tubbo looked over at where they were swimming. “That doesn’t really look like a mesa.”

Fundy followed where Tubbo was looking and found he was right, the small islands next to them were obviously based in a mesa biome, but ahead of them there was a large landmass. It was half grass, and was that mycelium? Further on was a large first wall topped with green and purple blocks and words reading ‘turf war’. “Well, either way, I’m sure there will be a portal somewhere over there.

After a bit of searching, the pair did indeed find a nether portal, though it was on the other side of the dirt wall in what seemed to be a small town. Fundy was glad to see some signs with a familiar name on them nearby. He tried to pull Tubbo along, but it was a little hard with him being distracted by the area they have come through to. It was well decorated with Nether brick and warped wood, and hardly a block was out of place. “Oh god are they keeping him in here? Something this fancy must be a prison or something!”

“Calm down Tubbo, we’re right near the spawn nether. You saw their main island. Maybe it was really bad and they ended up deciding they had to make this.”

Tubbo didn’t look convinced, though Fundy’s excuse was weak in the first place, but instead of trying to argue, he just dragged Tubbo along a path.

  
  


By the time all the vex were fought off, the two Hermits that seemed to control them were gone. At the same time most of the smp group had caught up. While they were no longer in the water, they were now surrounded by buildings. And buildings meant cover from people with elytra.

They ducked into a large building surrounded by water, perfect for cover and for their riptide tridents. While most people focused on watching the skies and the exterior of the building, a few noticed the place was filled with chests. “Hey, check out the chests!” someone said and then more people noticed. 

While most of it seemed to be junk, there were also chest labeled with golden carrots and netherite tools. Excitedly the chests were opened only to find them completely empty. Well, the golden carrots had a stack left and ten diamonds, but with most of the people here in netherite, it wasn’t much of a help.

Suddenly, hermits were showing up, coming from the ceiling. Only now did they realize that the roof of this place had a giant hole in the middle. And while before they were weakened without a chestplate, the hermits took their elytra off now that the battle was close quarters. While it was disappointing in some aspects, it was good in others as now it was more of a level playing field. 

Dream stood back as he let the others fight for him. Someone placed a bed and they were mostly all able to set spawn points, though a few people like Ranboo and Quackity weren’t fast enough. 

With Technoblade on their side, the smp was making quick work of the hermits, but it seemed like there was an endless supply. Each of them wore a mask of Tommy which frustrated Dream and the rest of his army, but it also disguised their opponents, making it hard to distinguish them from one another. 

Eventually a hermit got to the middle and stole the bed the smp members were using. As soon as another bed was placed, it was broken. When they tried to kill the hermit, two more showed up to help with the chaos. It wasn’t long before there were no more beds to use and the hermits started whittling down the health of the smp army. 

In a panic to heal, Sapnap dug down, then there was the familiar crunch of him finding a cave. While he died, there was a bit of yells and screaming from below. From that, it didn’t take a genius to figure out where all the hermits were coming from. “They’re under us!” Dream shouted and then everyone was headed down. 

After the digging commenced, one hermit yelled out. “We’ve been rumbled! Call Zedaph!” Dream wondered just how one more hermit would be able to help. 

As the army started to surround the hermits, he noticed none of them were fighting, they were just picking up all their supplies. “Don’t bother! There’s nowhere for you to run! Try to dig out and we’ll just catch up!” He cornered one of the hermits and pulled their mask off as he swung his sword down. But when the mask was removed, a nearly identical face was beneath it.

Dream hesitated just for a moment, surprised to see Tommy there. “Hey green boy. Miss me?” Tommy smirked up at Dream and then suddenly he was gone. Turning around, Dream found all the hermits were gone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle continues and gets more violent, pushing someone to the breaking point.

When Tommy opened his eyes again, he found himself with all the Hermits in the town hall. A few Hermits that were already there like Zedaph brought out potions and food and other items for everyone to recover. Nearby Grian was shaking out the water that got on his wings from the emergency button being used. 

“How’re ya doing Big G?” Tommy asked as he walked over, grabbing another mask of his own face from the table.

“Fine, what about you Tommy?”

“Dream kinda saw me right before the button got pressed. But he didn’t get a chance to hit me.” Immediately Grian was acting like a mother hen towards him and Tommy had to push the avian away. “Grian! I’m fine!”

“Are you sure? Because Techno and d- Philza were also there.”

“Yeah, I heard you confronted them.” Tommy softened his voice, noticing the look of pain on Grian’s face.

“Neither of them recognized me. I mean, it makes sense since it’s been so long for me and I look so… different.”

Tommy hugged Grian. He didn’t believe it when he learned that this was his missing older brother, but when Grian used his real name, something he shouldn’t have known, Tommy changed his mind. “Hey, c’mon, once this is all over you can brag about being the oldest now.”

Grian laughed and ruffled Tommy’s hair. “Yeah, and you look as old as Techno did out there.”

“No I don’t, he’s an old fart!” Tommy complained. “I’m still a teen!”

“You’re twenty-one!”

“I’m a child!”

Grian laughed. When Tommy had first shown up, he did everything to seem older than he was, now he refused to admit he’d grown up. “C’mon, let’s just-” He was cut off by a buzzing from their communicators. The two of them looked around and noticed the other hermits were doing the same. Everyone was here, so it couldn’t be a death message.

Xisuma tapped his helmet and everyone saw the glow of him looking at the communications chat. “Iskall, someone named Fundy is saying they’re at your tree.”

The redstoner immediately messed with his robotic eye to look at his own chat. His other eye widened and he equipped his elytra. “I’m going to go after him. I doubt it would be an ambush, there’s no way they could have gotten a whole group there while we were fighting.”

Rendog also put his elytra on. He said he would go with Iskall as some extra muscle just to be safe. The two of them flew off, careful to stay out of range of anyone in Dream’s army before heading toward the Omega Tree.

“Hey, now that they know I’m here, should we use me more as bait?” Tommy spoke up, causing Grian to pull him closer.

“Absolutely not. Any mistake and you could be captured!”

Before Tommy could complain, False spoke up. “Actually, it’s a good plan. You helped him learn to fly so he’s great at it. He’ll have no trouble escaping into the air. And he can also set up another pearl if they do capture him. Someone can watch in the sky and send word if he needs rescue.”

“But what if he-” Grian tried to speak up, but Tommy stopped him.

“Grian, I know these people. It would work. And I know how to get out of tough situations. And I’m not going to be the only one down there. Doesn’t make sense to send me there alone.

Reluctantly, Grian let Tommy go. The blond smiled and then gave his brother one last hug before pulling his mask on and leaving with a group of Hermits. All of them placed ender pearls in the emergency button and then left the town hall through bubble columns. Grian watched them go before following behind to be their eyes in the sky. Cub came with him, his vex wings still there from his earlier confrontation with Dream.

  
  


When the Hermits suddenly reappeared, Dream was ready for them. Instead of an axe, he held a sword. Whenever a Hermit got close, he would injure them and then use the long blade to pull off or break their mask. Tommy was going to be there, under one of those masks. And when Dream saw his sorry face next, he would drag the teen back home.

Dream heard a grunt from behind him and glanced back to see Philza with his weapon clashing with a hermit’s sword. Even with the mask, Dream could see the silver hair of said hermit. Dream may not have been familiar with their enemy as much as he wished, but there was one well known name he recognized. Etho. While Philza was a man who had lived years on hardcore, Etho had been living on a single world for longer. Both were very experienced men. 

In his distraction, a hermit attacked Dream. He deflected their attack but in the process managed to hinder his teammate and suddenly Philza was killed. Dream attacked back, and while the Hermit who attacked him got away, Etho did not, having been left on a single heart when Phil died, only being alive from Dream’s mistake.

But he didn’t have time to dwell as more attacks came from the hermits. Once they had defeated these people, he could take over as admin and bring them back.

  
  


Philza gasped as he woke up on the bed, energy flowing through him from respawning. It wasn’t something he was used to, and before he almost didn’t link with the bed. When he started to get up, he heard rustling and immediately turned to fight. But no one was there, which was fine as his death had left him with no gear. Phil could hear fighting from outside the building and he quickly looked in the various chests for anything.

Philza ended up breaking part of the building for sticks and made himself a sword with the diamonds they found earlier, even finding more of the gem in chests they hadn’t bothered to check before. It wasn’t enough for a full set of gear, but it was enough. The only problem was trying to put on his chestplate, Phil finally noticed what happened. 

It was impossible. They had been too damaged and the last time he had to respawn, nothing had happened. But there, right on his back were his wings, undamaged. Not a single feather was harmed or scorched or missing. 

A shout from outside drew Philza’s attention back to the battle. He nearly put his wings away to put on his chest plate when he remembered how their enemy had elytra. He was the only one on their side who could fly. Phil stored the chest plate in a nearby barrel for later and left the building through the open roof. None of the hermits seemed to notice him until it was too late and his weapon cut into them. There were one or two of those from the smp who attacked him before realizing who exactly they were seeing, but otherwise, the reappearance of his wings was appreciated.

  
  


When Tommy saw his dad in the air, he couldn’t help but stare for a moment. He had told Xisuma about the situation of his dad. At first he thought that Philza had completely lost his wings, which would make sense why a respawn couldn’t help. But since he still had them, the admin was able to set a trigger for the avian’s wings to heal when he respawned. It was a risk that could help Dream, but Tommy hoped that the return of Phil’s wings would help him switch sides.

The sight invigorated Tommy and he was slashing at his old friends left and right. He managed to catch sight of False nearby and Techno fighting so he moved over to assist her. It was perfect timing as False managed to be cornered and Techno proclaimed the kill for the blood god just before Tommy could manage to remove the weapon from his brother’s hand.

“Leave her alone.” Tommy said as Techno glared up at him. He had hit a growth spurt while in hermitcraft and his voice deepened, so Tommy wasn’t surprised that his brother didn’t recognise him. Behind him False got up and ate a gold apple as well as splashing a potion over her own head, a bit of the liquid managing to splash onto Tommy, giving him a few seconds of healing.

But as Tommy stood to cover his head, Dream joined next to Techo and sliced the mask off Tommy’s face. When it fell, Tommy could clearly see the slight surprise on Techno’s face. While the warrior wasn’t that expressive, growing up with him made it easier for Tommy to read his face. Dream on the other hand grinned so large his smile could be seen out the sides of his mask.

Before Tommy could react, his arm was grabbed in a crushing grip from Dream. False in a panic simply yelled Tommy’s name, which ended up bringing the attention of the rest of the SMP members.

False swung her sword at Dream, giving Tommy just enough of a gap to use a firework and launch himself into the air. Dream called for the smp members to focus on Tommy and suddenly arrows were flying at him. With another rocket he flew further into the air. Looking down, Tommy saw an arrow coming towards him. He attempted to dodge, but it clipped his elytra, leaving a small tear in one wing. 

A few more arrows also managed to reach him. When he wasn’t sure he could dodge them, the blond tried to make sure they directly hit him. Tommy had plenty of healing items and had nice armor, but if his elytra were too damaged, no amount of armor would help a fall like that.

Then, the thing he feared most happened. As he flew, rain started to fall. A few moments later there was the sound of a riptide trident being used. He turned to see Punz, having used his trident to get just close enough then he pulled out a crossbow and shot it. There was no time for Tommy to react and it went through one wing of his elytra. As Punz descended, Tommy tried to use fireworks to push him towards the ocean, but in his panic, all he did was push himself further up into the air. And then the elytra gave up on him and Tommy started to fall. 

  
  


Philza heard the noise of a trident as the rain started to fall. He looked around in the air just in time to see Punz’s arrow destroy Tommy’s elytra followed by what sounded like Tommy calling for help. While he had trouble getting used to flying again after months of being grounded, Phil immediately flapped his wings as hard and as fast as he could. He refused to lose another child. So he pushed himself to get to Tommy before the worst could happen.

  
  


Grian wasn’t sure how he missed Tommy flying into the air, but he didn’t miss his brother screaming his name. He looked down to see Tommy falling, his elytra in shreds. He saw another avian flying towards his fallen brother. Grian knew that he was the only avian of the hermits so this other person had to be working with Dream. 

As Grian pulled his wings in to dive towards Tommy, he realized he wouldn’t be able to make it. Sure there was enough time to reach Tommy before he hit the ground, but not enough before Tommy was grabbed by the other avian. As he continued to fall, Grian closed his eyes. He searched for something he buried deep inside himself. The red, yellow and blue feathers on his wings changed to purple, black and salt & pepper. When he next opened his eyes, there were 6 of them, all glowing a purple color. He opened his wings once more and gave a mighty flap, sending magical energy out through them and creating what sounded like thunder as the expelled energy propelled him faster towards Tommy. 

Just before the other avian could reach his brother, Grian’s arms wrapped around Tommy and the wings wrapped around both of them. He didn’t have enough time to use more energy and teleport them away or slow them down, so he just braced himself. Then they hit the ground, all the force going into Grian’s wings. It was painful, but right now he didn’t care. The adrenalin from nearly losing Tommy was kicking in and the pain made his mind hazy. 

The powers he had gained from being a watcher were dangerous and something he usually kept blocked off so he wouldn’t lose himself in it, but right now, with his current state, he wasn’t thinking of that, and slowly the previously locked away powers grew more dangerous and tempting.

  
  


Dream held his breath as Tommy fell. He didn’t want them to have come all this way for Tommy to lose his last life here. Luckily Phil was in the air, racing towards his son. He was sure that the Avian would reach Tommy until there was the sound of thunder and the sky lit up with a purple light. The figure that was lit up made his blood run cold. No. It wasn’t possible. A watcher. And not just any watcher. The Dreamslayer himself was a watcher. In a way it made sense how this would be the one person who seemed to be able to kill him, but knowing the full power he held was not a happy thought.

Dream managed to get his army to retreat just far enough in time that no one ended up in the destruction of Grian crash landing. Everyone stared, no one moved. Even the Hermits looked terrified of their own ally. Phil landed safely and tried to move to the crater, but Dream grabbed him. Techno was the next to move as The wings parted revealing Tommy hidden beneath them. Again, Dream tried to stop him, but Techno was further than Phil had been. While Techno had recently been staying out of things, Dream didn’t want to lose someone who was so good at making his stories perfect.

Techno held out his axe, ready to strike Grian, but the avian watcher just grabbed the blade of the axe. His head looked up and all six eyes focused on the weapon, each of them blinking out of sync. He only stopped looking when Tommy groaned, while he was physically uninjured, the rush of falling and the rapid pressure changes as well as the energy from Grian had caused him to pass out.

Techno pulled his weapon back, unsure if he should strike again. Half of the voices were telling him to attack and kill this person who took his brother, but the other half seemed to actually want him to stop. But the first half was louder and he swung the axe down again. Time seemed to slow down as he saw the supposed avian look back up and smile hauntingly. He resolved himself and cried out, “Blood for the Blood God!” as he put more force into the swing.

The moment the axe blade hit Grian’s skull, it shattered. Around them people started moving. A quick glance let Techno see the Hermits moving the smp army away, trying to protect their enemies. Looking back at his own enemy, Techno was met with Grian standing up. He spoke, but instead of his own voice, Grian spoke in Techno’s voice. He parroted the line the pvper had just spoken, only saying it louder and louder.

“Blood for the Blood God! Blood for the Blood God!!!  **Blood for the Blood God** !!!” And then… in his normal voice, he shouted once more. “ **BLOOD FOR _ME_!!!** ”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grian used to be a prince and his name wasn't always Grian, but one day he lost his family. Funny how that changed his life as much as it did.

A castle stood in the middle of frozen plains. Though the wind was cold and harsh, inside was warm and cozy. There was the sound of a few people running through the halls, none of them that old.

“Blood for the Blood God!” A young voice yelled as they tackled someone.

“Hey! Get off me!” A similar voice spoke.

“Come on Techno, you’re taller than me!”

“And you have wings! Get your own blood!”

A third voice spoke up as they ran by. “I’m gonna have the last of the juice!”

“No! That’s my blood!” The young avian jumped up from pinning his one brother down and ran after the other. “Wilburrrrrr!”

By the time Techno reached the kitchen, his brothers were fighting in front of the fridge. As they tustled, he opened the fridge up and pulled out some cherry juice and used the last of the bottle to fill his glass. “Sorry Blood God, my juice now.”

The two kids stopped fighting and the avian pouted. “That’s not fair!”

The three of them ended up arguing until someone new entered the kitchen. A man with raven wings and wearing a crown walked in holding a baby in his arms. “Boys…” he spoke in a tone that made the triplets immediately stop what they were doing.

“It’s Techno’s fault! He stole my blood!”

“Only because you were too busy fighting with Wilbur.”

“Only cause he tried to get the blood first.”

“You weren’t fast enough!”

“I’m super fast! I just didn’t want to use my wings and beat you and make you cry!”

“I wouldn’t cry!”

“Everyone says you would!”

The cheery tone from the arguing children seemed to disappear along with the cosy warmth as a chill seemed to find its way into the castle. The king carefully passed the baby to Techno and then kneeled down. “Xelqua, are you hearing the voices again?”

“No.” Xelqua said, obviously lying, making the king sigh.

“You know you need to tell daddy when you start to hear them again.”

Xelqua crosses his arms. “Techno doesn’t always tell you when he hears them!”

“And I don’t like him doing that either.” The king sighed. “Will you promise to always tell me if I get you some more juice?”

“Blood for me!” Xelqua said happily, nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, blood for the Blood God!” Techno’s replied, handing the baby back to his dad.

  
  


They were only separated for a moment. Philza has his children holding onto his wings as they went through the market. He heard Xelqua cheer at seeing a stand of music discs. Before Phil could remind his son to stay with them, the child had let go of his wing. 

The king immediately moved to grabbed Xelqua, only to find him missing. He assumed he was just faster and lost in the crowd, but even going on a path to the music stand, his son was missing. 

He started searching in a wider area, some of the crowd started looking too. Philza started to worry about his son being kidnapped with him being a prince and all. He offered a reward, right there in the crowd for whoever found his son. He hoped it would work, but it didn’t.

Phil kept searching even when Wilbur started to complain he was tired and the baby in his arms started wailing. But his son didn’t reappear.

In a distant world, Xelqua put his foot down on the sidewalk, surprised to see it not cobblestone and also barely anyone in sight. “Daddy?” He looked around for his dad, but he wasn’t there. “D-daddy? D-dad?!” He looked around wildly, but still there was no sign of the king. “Dad! T-Techno! Wilbur!” He shouted for his family. But they weren’t there.

A woman spotted the lost Xelqua and took him to the police. When he described his family and home, the officers were left scratching their heads. They listed him as a found person, but no one ever came. 

After a month he was put in the foster system. Compared to his previous life as a prince, Being an orphan was the worst thing ever. He hated being bullied for everything. His wings, which he eventually learned to hide completely. The way he talked, which caused him to try and hide his accent. And his name. That wasn’t something he could easily change, but when he ran away and started a new life on his own, it was easier. And when Sam and Taurus asked for his name. It was Grian.

  
  


Part of Grian was glad when the universe went sideways and he couldn’t find Sam or Taurtis. He had done some things that most people would frown upon. But he had to do them. He needed the ransom money, he needed to help his friends escape, he needed to kill  YakuzaKaru. And it hadn’t helped when the voices told him he was right.

But suddenly he was in a world that was much simpler and closer to how home had been. He was free to do whatever he pleased. He ended up moving towards an ocean and making a castle in the middle of it. It wasn’t the Antarctic Empire, but it was his empire. His Grian Empire.

And it was so much better here. If he exploded someone or robbed them or trapped them in a box, he wasn’t in danger of getting hurt or arrested. The worst that happened was the Watchers showing up. They liked using clay and Grian needed clay. So he stole every bit he could. Of course, the Watchers didn’t like that, so he was told to burn it or have his items trapped away or something else.

Grian thought it was unfair. What gave them the right to choose what he was doing was wrong? He didn’t see anyone else get in trouble. And the voices agreed with him, it wasn’t his fault.

And then he was taken away by the Watchers. While he was scared by that, the voices assured him it would be fine. The Watchers had just been testing him. And now they were giving him a chance to join. He would have said no, but then he thought about the family he lost. The Watchers were powerful. If he became one, he could find his family again.

He took the power. He became a Watcher. The voices became clearer and he felt complete. At least until he realized he couldn’t find his family, even with all the power being a Watcher gave him. He could see into a million worlds, but it had been years, and when he looked into the world that housed his home, all he saw was an old empty castle. There was no one left.

Grian ended up shutting away his Watcher side in anger. He finally had the chance to see his family and they were gone. And if those voices hadn’t told him to take the power and look, he wouldn’t have learned the truth. Grian preferred the idea that he could see his family again, or at least imagine the possibility, then know for sure that he was truly alone.

So Grian used his powers as a Watcher to hide the voices and the powers away. If he wanted to, he could pull them back, but why bother. He stayed with the Watchers for a while, gazing into the world he had just left before reaching for his powers just a little to look into other worlds. He then met someone who felt like his match. Everyone knew Redstoners and Builders fit perfectly together. And Grian was a builder while this man created redstone masterpieces. 

Grian watched as the man left into a server called Hermitcraft. He followed along and searched for the admin of the world. The admin seemed surprised to see Grian, but allowed him to join them, though not right away as they were going to be moving worlds soon. Grian agreed to wait, and wait he did. The moment the world was open, Grian took himself there. It was empty for a short bit, but then other people started showing up.

Grian followed the redstoner Mumbo around, glad to have a new friend. He didn’t understand half the things Mumbo talked about when it came to redstone, but it was still fun to listen to. It helped distract him from all that came before.

Once or twice, Grian had to use his powers from being a Watcher, and he had to explain to Xisuma what he was. The Voidwalker seemed to understand if be a little put off by how someone like Grian could actually be a Watcher.

When they moved to another world, Grian followed. It was peaceful for the longest time until Mumbo created Hermit Challenges. Well, it wasn’t right when he created them, but later down the line. He was just asked to wear blue. It shouldn’t have been that hard to do. But he always wore red. Blue wasn’t his color, it was his brother’s color. Grian tried arguing with Mumbo, asking him to allow the challenge to be skipped. He didn’t explain why he didn’t want to do it, so Mumbo said he had to.

Eventually, Grian wore blue. And then the mansion exploded. Everyone rushed to the ruined building and saw Grian in front of it, holding TNT. But Grian didn’t look like himself. He had tried to hide the memories away. It was just going to be for a day, but to hide the memories of his part life, he had to be a Watcher. And being a Watcher brought back his voices. And if he hated blue so much, why have a mansion that was all blue?

It took days for everyone to calm him down and get him back to normal. They panicked when he brought out his powers once more though it was just to repair what he had destroyed. Grian refused to meet Mumbo’s eyes for a while, so he went to his second closest friend Iskall to talk with. Despite Iskall’s insistence that he was not a therapist, he agreed to help Grian talk through what was going on in his mind. 

Between talks, Iskall spoke with Xisuma to relay what he had learned and soon all the Hermits were informed about what was going on with Grian. Of course Grian didn’t give out every detail like his life with Sam and Taurtis and the fact that he was a prince. All he said was he lost his family and ended up in a not so great crowd as a teen.

The next time Grian asked to opt out of something, people quickly obliged, both to not have the newest hermit hurting more, and also to make sure the server wasn’t destroyed by a Watcher going haywire.

  
  


It was months after the incident of the mansion exploding that Tommy appeared. No one knew where the kid had appeared from but it was obvious that sending him back couldn’t be an option. Mambo and Grian both took a liking to Tommy, Grian also being the newest Hermit and Mumbo being the youngest. Well, obviously now Tommy was both the youngest and newest, but it was the principle of the matter.

Though he was extremely wary of the pair at first, Tommy quickly warmed up to them, especially Grian. The two of them were so similar, people assumed they were siblings at one point. When someone pointed it out, then immediately regretted it because Grian got upset and started yelling at them. He flew off and Tommy followed behind, not knowing what was going on. 

Grian explained how he lost his family and how by the time he finally got home, they were all gone. Tommy told Grian about his own family, how they had slowly all gone a little crazy at the situation Dream had put them in. Slowly, the two of them bonded, just talking about the situation, joking around. Grian told some stories and Tommy replied with his own.

It was when Tommy pretended to be his oldest brother and said ‘blood for the blood god’ when Grian froze and became pale. Neither of them had used names for their family. At least, Tommy hadn’t used anything other than nicknames. Grian asked if the blood god was Xelqua. Tommy asked how Grian could possibly know that name.

When Grian learned Tommy was his brother, he pulled the teen into a crushing hug. He refused to let go for the longest time, terrified that just like last time, the moment he let go, they would end up in separate worlds. Tommy pretended to complain, but he was fine with Grian hugging him. He understood.

Grian made sure everyone was together when he used his Watcher powers again. Tommy had no clue what was going on and why everyone looked ready for war. The Hermits had promised they didn’t do that here, and it was worse that they all seemed ready to specifically fight Grian. Tommy nearly jumped between then, ready to fight every hermit for his brother, when Grian pulled out his Watcher powers. If Tommy had been scared of Dream, he was suddenly even more scared of his brother. 

The moments seemed to stretch out and the Hermits started moving towards Grian, ready to fight a Watcher, when he pushed it back down. Immediately Hermits were shedding armor and putting their elytra back on, glad that no fighting had to occur. Xisuma pulled Tommy aside to fully explain everything to the boy while Mumbo stayed with Grian as a shoulder to cry on. When Tommy returned, Grian once again held him close, this time seeming more worried about losing his brother. Though not in the sense that Tommy could disappear, but in the sense that Tommy could be like his brothers, losing themselves to madness. Just like Grian had nearly done.

While everyone argued, Grian used his Watcher powers more, gazing into the SMP that Tommy had come from. Though no one liked the methods, they were at least glad to get more insight into what had led Tommy to being the way he was. And because of it they were able to help him heal better.

One thing that became obvious was how the time within the world of Hermitcraft passed faster than in other worlds. It helped explain why it was so odd that Grian and Tommy, who once were only around five years apart were now closer to ten. Because of that, there was little worry of the SMP catching them by surprise and trying to find Tommy. Before the next MCC meeting, Tommy hit a growth spurt which made it harder for his old friends to recognize him even before he put on a slight disguise.

Back in Hermittown, Tommy slowly learned to be like his new family. Instead of stealing or hoping for handouts, he used the knowledge from the other Hermits to make farms and get plenty of resources. He didn’t mind spending hours in a mine as the mix of an efficiency five pickaxe and a haste two beacon made the stone break as if it were simply breaking grass. It was peaceful other than the occasional monster showing up and Grian looked proud of him every time so it always seemed worth it. Especially as he always ended up with plenty of diamonds.

When he first started building, the biggest thing Tommy made was a cobble tower up to the build limit, but after mining so much, filling his inventory with cobble, and having an amazing builder for a brother, Tommy built more. He created what looked like a tall wizard tower, which Grian begrudgingly was happy about, though Tommy saw the way Scar smiled smugly at Grian. For the most part the tower was just cobble, but here and there were stone bricks and mossy cobble, spruce and dark oak wood, and other stones to bring some color.

There were different floors and Tommy nearly gave Iskall a heart attack when the redstoner took a tour of the tower and walked in on the floor entirely made of diorite. One floor was filled with yellows and greens and housed a single bee which everyone was pretty sure somehow held part of Tubbo’s soul. It was messy, but at the top of the tower, Mumbo had helped Tommy create a cycling screen. Tommy made half of it the flag of L’Manburg and the other half the flag of the Antarctic Empire. Every few days he would flip a lever and the flag would change. Though certain parts of his past weren’t the greatest, Tommy was glad to have something to remind him of it, and Grian was glad to see the flag of his old family once again.

  
  


The last time Grian peeked into the SMP, he saw Dream getting so close to finding a way to Hermitcraft. He warned Xisuma who carefully told other Hermits to prepare, trying to not scare Tommy. Eventually the teen found out, which was probably for the best so when Dream did show up, he didn’t completely panic. Tommy tried to deny Dream could find a way in, and forgetting the time difference between the two worlds, Tommy slowly thought that he really wouldn’t show up.

But when Tubbo appeared and mentioned Dream would be coming, it became very real. Tommy prepared as did Grian. Grian flew to his brother to give him comfort before the battle started. Grian said he would do anything to make sure they couldn’t take Tommy. Tommy asked Grian to promise him not to use his Watcher powers.

Grian hesitated. He had been using the powers more and more. He’d slowly been getting used to them. Surely it would be fine for an emergency. But Tommy wouldn’t listen to Grian’s reasoning and reluctantly Grian promised not to use those powers.

He broke his promise.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Watcher is a dangerous thing. One that hears voices is even more dangerous. But a Watcher protecting family is the most dangerous thing of all.

“Fundy? Are you in here?” Iskall called out. Rendog landed next to the redstoner, weapon drawn as a precaution. 

Fundy did speak, but not as a response to Iskall. “No! Tubbo don’t!” From nearby, Tubbo jumped at the other pair in a panic to defend himself. Ren blocked the attack and disarmed Tubbo quickly as he wasn’t fully prepared for a battle. “Tubbo, they’re on our side!”

“They are?” Tubbo asked, refusing to look away from Iskall and Ren.

“Yeah.” Iskall spoke up, making sure to hold his hands up and hold no weapon. “I’m friends with Fundy. I’ve helped him in the past with his redstone.”

Tubbo hazarded a glance towards Fundy who gave a reassuring nod and Tubbo relaxed just a little bit. “Tommy’s told us about you. Said you’re best friends?”

Tubbo looked back to Iskall. “He said that? But I exiled him! I didn’t even visit him when I could have.”

“Tommy doesn’t blame you for that.” Ren spoke up, making Tubbo jump a little at the new voice. “Maybe he did when he first got here, but he gets that it was more Dream’s fault then yours. You should see his place.”

“Oh yeah!” Iskall said, lighting up a little. “He’s not far from here. Tommy set up his tower between Grian and Ren in the mesa. Refused to let any of us help. He grew up so fast.”

“Then can we go over there? I want to see Tommy and talk with him!” Tubbo was nearly bouncing around at the thought of seeing his friend again.

“Well, we can go over there, but Tommy’s probably in the middle of the fight.” Ren responded. “Though I’m sure he’d want to keep you safe.”

“And I’d rather not get Fundy mixed up in everything if he doesn’t have to be.” Iskall added. Though Fundy seemed to disagree.

“If Tommy is out there fighting, we want to help. He’s our friend.”

Iskall and Ren looked at each other, having a silent conversation with expressions before Ren sighed. “Alright, fine. We’ll take you back to the shopping district and-”

There was a large crack of thunder and Tubbo was left trembling. Ren and Fundy covered their ears from the sudden noise while Iskall looked for the source. When he saw the cloudy sky above with a purple glow in the distance, he knew what was going on, having seen the same scene once before. “Oh no… Grian…”

Rendog’s ears were ringing a little too much for him to hear Iskall, so he yelled a ‘what?’ before seeing the sky as well. “That’s… not good.”

Fundy recovered enough to comfort Tubbo and then turned to Iskall. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“Change of plans. We’re staying here. Everyone else is in the shopping district, so if things go wrong…” Iskall trailed off.

“Then we’re the recovery team.” Ren finished the thought.

Tubbo, who was still rattled by the sound, still managed to push himself mostly past it. “Wh-what do you mean? Is T-Tommy going to be okay?”

Iskall, who had the most experience with Grian’s trouble with being a Watcher, seemed hesitant about his answer, but did give it. “Well, I think Tommy might actually be the safest one out there, though it’s still dangerous.”

“Then we need to go help!” Tubbo said, giving no chance for anyone to stop him as he ran out of the tree. Fundy quickly followed, and Ren and Iskall after him after they unfroze from their surprise. 

“Ren, Fundy, how about you two stay behind. We should have at least someone as an emergency team. I don’t want Tubbo going alone and I doubt we can do anything to stop him. I’m also not letting him head out there alone and I’m the one who knows the most about this.”

Ren Tried to argue, but Iskall shut him down. “Right, Fundy, let’s stay back.” The fox looked sadly at Ren, but relented and stayed back with him. Iskall started getting his wings ready to fly, but saw Tubbo had none of his own, so instead they headed to the nether portal.

  
  


Hermits surrounded the crater, weapons drawn. They created a wall of armor that protected their previous enemy. Mumbo took a risk and slid down to try and pull Technoblade away, but the piglin warrior refused to budge. With that out the window and no easy way out, Mumbo tried to reason with his friend. “Grian, calm down, you saved Tommy. You don’t need to be a Watcher right now.” Murmuring came from the opposing army. A few of them had heard of Watchers but never seen one. 

Grian cocked his head to one side, staring Mumbo down with all but one of his eyes, the last one continuing to watch Techno. Mumbo tried once more to move Techno, but he stood firm, causing Mumbo’s foot to slip. The sudden movement and noise made Grian’s feathers ruffle and Mumbo froze completely. Grian then moved his hand toward Tommy and Techno jumped to attack with a new weapon, only for it to shatter as well. The Watcher started to stand up only for the Hermits at his back to first arrows at him. He screeched in pain, focusing on his attackers and turning away from Techno and Mumbo.

Techno moved first, getting to Tommy’s side and starting to pull him away. Being so close Grian immediately noticed and attempted to attack, but Mumbo moved in front of the warrior and put his shield up, deflecting the attack. The expression on Grian’s face almost looked hurt as Techno escaped with Tommy and climbed up out of the crater with one hand.

Tommy started to wake up just as Techno reached Phil. The former king took his son from Techno’s arms and held him close. Dream smiled down at Tommy, glad to have his pawn return to the board. As a Watcher, Grian saw it all. He flapped his wings, using his Watcher magic to strengthen the effects and create a windstorm around him and everyone nearby. 

Scar and Cub were blown away by the wind as they still sported their vex wings which caught the wind easily. Philza also had to be held down for the same reason. As the wind whipped around, Grian flew into the air and launched himself at Philza and began to parrot Techno once more.

“How dare you defile the Blood God!” Techno yelled, ready to defend his family. But Grian didn’t stop, landing next to them. He looked at his father and brothers, noting one was missing.

“Someone’s missing” The Watcher hissed out. “And we saw he isn’t dead anymore. Your admin revived him.”

Tommy stared up at what Grian had become. The six purple eyes were now accompanied by a mouth full of pointed teeth and his hair has seemed to have turned into feathers. He was also taller and his feet were changed into talons. Tommy wasn’t sure how much was just how Watchers looked and how much was an emphasization of Grian’s avian self, but no matter what, Grian’s current state was terrifying.

Tommy tried to escape his dad’s arms, but Phil refused to let him go. Dream moved to stand between Tommy and Grian which made him even more upset about being unable to move. “How about we leave while we still can. We rescued Tommy. Let these Hermits deal with their own problems.”

Phil nodded and was starting to move before Tommy writhed in his arms. “No! I don’t want to go back! I need to help Grian!”

“Tommy, they just kept you trapped here and wouldn’t let you see your friends and family. Tubbo lifted your exile and I did everything to find a way to give you a path home. Don’t you remember all the time I spent with you? Think of this as paying me back for-”

“You’re not my friend Dream.” Tommy cut his former admin off, finally escaping Philza’s arms. “You never were. And if you were, I wouldn’t need to pay you back for just being with me. And you!” Tommy looked at his brother. “I kept trying to trust you, tried to get my brother back, but you won’t stop listening to the voices. And dad…” Tommy looked at Philza, but couldn’t get the words out. “I… I... “

Philza was knocked down and pinned under Grian’s foot. “No more Empire for you. Ice and snow don’t really fit with birds anyway, now do they.”

Philza grabbed the foot on his chest and tried to push it off him, but instead the talons just dug deeper into his chest. “Leave my son alone!” He gritted out, just making Grian laugh.

“Leave him alone? Like what you did? Abandoned him out in the middle of nowhere? I guess Techno really was the favorite. Or will you lose him as well?”

Philza managed to pull out his sword and slash it against Grian. It didn’t break, but the durability fell a dangerous amount. Angrily, Grian pushed his foot down harder on Philza, making the man wheeze. When others tried to step forward to help, corrupted parrot wings pushed them away.

“You abandoned one son, let another die, and lost the third to time.” Grian taunted and Philza’s face went white.

“Thi- y-you know what happened to-?”

“The Watchers had plenty of fun with him.” Grian answered, not directly answering that he was the third child and not giving up that he was still alive.

Techno’s eyes blazed with fury and attacked Grian. “You took him?!”

Grian just laughed and dodged the attacks. Tommy realized the avian was just toying with him. It reminded him of what Dream did. In a panic, Tommy put down his shulker box. A number of SMP members looked at it greedily, even amongst the current chaos. Tommy opened it up and pulled out two things, a jukebox, and a music disc. Tommy didn’t know if it would work, but he hoped that based on how Grian was acting, there were enough parrot instincts in there that he would listen.

He placed down the jukebox and inserted the disc, remembering it was one of Grian’s favorites. Erupting out of the speakers of the jukebox game was a laugh of a certain hermit which immediately pulled the Watcher’s attention. The jukebox then proceeded to play one of the songs for Mumbo’s mayoral campaign, and Grian stopped what he was doing and started dancing to the song.

Immediately Hermits raced towards Grian, pulling leads out and tying him up. He almost escaped when the song ended, but Tommy quickly put in the second of the two songs. After switching between the two a few times, the Hermits were able to completely tie Grian up.

Tommy put his jukebox and discs away and then picked up his shulker box before trying to go to Grian, but was grabbed by Philza. “Tommy, stay away from him.”

Tommy tried to argue, but then there was another shout. “TOMMY!”

Tommy turned, looking for the shout. “Tubbo?” Before he could notice his best friend in the crowd, Tubbo tackled him. There was an angry noise from Grian and he attempted escape, but stopped when laughter rang out from the reunited pair. “Tubbo I missed you so much!”

“Are you okay? Fundy took us to a friend of his here and then there was an explosion. They said you would be in the middle of it.”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Tommy gave a small laugh. “No way Big G would hurt me.”

“Big G? Did you replace me?” Tubbo looked genuinely hurt until Tommy hugged him.

“I would never. You’re my best friend and nothing will change that.”

“That’s wonderful!” Tommy froze as Dream spoke, fully remembering the situation he was in. “Now that everything is sorted, we can go back home.”

“Not a chance, green bitch.” Tommy half growled at his old tormenter. “I’m staying here.” He almost pulled out his weapon, ready to attack when he noticed something else. “Tubbo, do you have seeds?”

“Uh, yeah, Fundy and I went through a jungle and it was a pain to get through all the foliage. Why?” Tommy held his hand out and Tubbo handed him the seeds.

“Hey G! Look what I got!” Tommy shouted and then held up the seeds. Since the music worked, he assumed this would as well. He was right when Grian’s eyes landed on the treat and seemed to light up. Nearby, Philza wiped away just a little bit of drool and shook his head, still recovering from nearly being crushed to death.

“Well would you look at that Dream, I can control the Watcher. And not just any Watcher, right?” Tommy gave a smug smile, having heard the play by play of Grian becoming the Dreamslayer many a time.

A few of those from the smp gasped as Dream actually dropped his weapon and surrendered. It was something no one thought would happen, especially at Tommy’s hand. Tommy put the seeds away and behind him Iskall and Mumbo started to work on calming Grian down. 

After he started down Dream a bit longer, Tommy grabbed Tubbo’s hand and pulled him over to Grian. “Big T, meet Big G. He doesn’t normally look like this though, but he does look pretty pog right now.” Tubbo asked if Grian really hadn’t hurt Tommy. “Of course, he’s too much of a charrot and is super protective of me.”

With Tommy’s back turned, Dream tried one last time to grab him. The second he started to move, all the leads snapped and Grian moved to the same point. He brought down an axe and hit Dream in the face, shattering the mask he wore. “I don’t think I got any blood yet.” Grian smiled. Tommy was scared for a moment of losing his brother more, but actually noticed him returning back to normal. “Blood for the Blood God and all that.”

The changes stopped for a moment as purple energy swirled around Dream. He covered his face, expecting to be slain, but no death arrived. The energy dissipated and then Grian finally turned back to normal and collapsed to the ground laughing weakly. “I’m…  _ so _ glad I kept tabs on you guys.”

Tommy tried to hug Grian but he was beaten by Mumbo getting their first. “Okay! Fine! I get it! Best friends over family.” Tommy joked and then hugged Tubbo. “I can do that too.”

Philza and Techno attempted to approach Tommy, but Grian opened a wing and then pulled Tommy and Tubbo to his side. “Don’t hurt him.”

“Dad, I just explained this to Tubbo. He’s not gonna hurt me.” Tommy complained with a bit of a whine.

Philza wasn’t convinced. “Tommy, I heard what he said. He’s a Watcher, and they killed your brother.”

“He got better!” Tommy retorted immediately, not really thinking the response out. Grian doubled over laughing at it.

“It’s not some joke!” Phil said sternly, making Tommy freeze. Grian stopped hugging Mumbo and stepping in front of Tommy. He was unsteady on his feet and feeling exhausted, but nevertheless, he stood there.

“Xelqua lives.” Grian spoke, making Phil’s eyes widen. “Only thing the Watchers did was mess with him. Then they gave him an offer to join them. Oh, he also changed his name to Grian.”

Philza looked Grian up and down, trying to see if he was lying. And then the words actually registered in his brain. “Xelqua?”

“Hey dad.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that a family is reunited, there are many things to talk about, and the past can sometimes be hard to think about.

Wilbur showed up like he was arriving at a party. In a sense he was since Dream was taken down and he was going to see Tommy again. Dream may have revived him, but even that wasn’t going to convince Wil to help the tyrant. When he reached Philza and Techno, he was surprised to see no sign of Tommy. “So, where is he?”

“Tommy? He’s showing off his base to Tubbo.” Grian spoke up, making Wilbur notice him. His parrot wings were folded tightly so they couldn’t be seen, which was perfect for him. "Hey, you got something in your hair.”

Wilbur patted his head. “What, my hat?”

Grian shook his head and put a blue feather there. “It’s right there.”

“I can feel you put something there.” Wilbur pulled the feather out. “Don’t need you-” He stopped talking once he actually looked at the feather.

“Hey look, I’ve got one too.” Techno said pointing at the yellow feather placed behind his ear.

“ _ No. _ ” Wilbur sounded dumbfounded and looked back at Grian, who now had a red feather stuck in his own hair.

“Alright, let’s go see Tommy.” Grian spoke nonchalantly before Wilbur grabbed him.

“Oh no you don’t! You don’t just get to drop that bombshell on us and walk away!”

Grian laughed. “What, missed me?”

“Yes! Where the fuck were you?”

“Oh, here and there. How are you doing being alive again.”

“Less violent than I was before dying I suppose.”

“Good! But I’m still not letting you near Tommy.” When Wilbur tried to say something, Grian stopped him. “Nope, you can’t argue. I’m oldest now.”

“What the fuck to you mean, I’m a minute older than you bird boy.”

“Not anymore, I’m now in my thirties.”

“Wh- How?!”

Philza put a hand on Wilbur’s shoulder. “We can talk more when we meet back up with Tommy.”

“Yeah, we can visit his base hermit cribs style. I’ll grab my backup elytra and some rockets!” Grian ducked into a shop to use their ender chest. “Oh yeah, are you guys okay with rockets? Because Tommy told me Tubbo doesn’t like them. They won’t explode or anything, they’re just to help you with flying. Obviously dad and I won’t need them, but uh, you guys don’t have wings.”

“I’ll take them.” Wilbur said. Techno was less eager, but did also accept the elytra.

As Grian was about to take off with his family, Scar cleared his throat to get their attention. “Now Grian, while I am glad that you have found the family you lost, I am still very serious about that paperwork. I have different forms for if they’re planning to stay permanently or if they’re just going to visit often. I can send the paperwork to your mansion if you want though if you just want to come to town hall right now, we can do it there.”

“Scar, right now I want to talk with my family and figure out what we’re doing. We can’t really sign paperwork if we don’t know which paperwork to sign, right?”

Scar nodded in agreement. “Alright, I’ll send it to the mansion then. Also about the other people visiting.”

Grian flapped his wings to quickly get into the air. “Sorry Scar too far away can’t hear you byeeeee!”

On the ground, Phil sighed, though he was smiling. “I guess this means we better start flying. Let’s get up higher for an easier take off.”

Though it took an attempt or two, the avian lineage seemed to help Techno and Wilbur get the hang of using elytra extremely fast. Though in the air, Grian hadn’t flown too far and the others easily caught up with him. He guided them to the south west towards where Tommy’s base was. 

As it came into view, Grian couldn’t help but laugh as he heard a gasp from behind. They landed in front of the arch acting as a doorway on the ground floor to find Tommy leaning against it. “Took long enough dickheads.”

Grian was about to jokingly scold Tommy when Wilbur went to hug and or lovingly bully his younger brother. Tommy waved his arms in an attempt to get Wil to stop, but he kept running towards Tommy. Just before he could reach the blond, he was tackled to the ground from the side by Grian.

“Grian! I was joking! It was going to be fine!” Tommy complained, helping to pull the avian off Wilbur. “You don’t have to keep mothering me! Stress does that plenty!”

“It’s not my fault I wore the chicken mask that long.”

“That is entirely your fault! And wearing a mask that long doesn’t change anything.”

Tommy and Grian continued to playfully argue until Philza caught their attention. “Oh right, forgot we had meetings to get to. Hey Tommy, which floor do you think is best for talking about all this.”

Tommy put a hand on his chin. “Hmmm, how about the sixth floor? I mean, that one is based on the smp.”

“Sounds great!” Grian said before flying up there, leaving the others behind.

“Hey! No fair!” Tommy shouted up. “Some of us have to use rockets to fly! Ugh fine we’re taking the bubble stream.”

Entering the tower, the first floor was just completely made of cobble. It was his favorite block and all, so if he was going to mainly use the first floor, that was the design he wanted. There were also a number of chests placed around to the point that it had become a bit of a chest monster. Wilbur couldn’t help but be curious and opened one chest, eyes widening at the contents. “This is filled with diamond tools and armor! You’re just leaving it here?”

Tommy looked over to what Wil was referring to. “What? Oh, that’s from endbusting. It’s all cursed gear. You should have seen the time I caught Joe afk and gave him a set of binding diamond armor. I’m not sure how he didn’t notice right away, but the moment I mentioned I liked his armor, he jumped in the nearest lava pool.”

“Really? Other than the curses, this seems like it’s pretty good?”

“Not really. No one is really stealing from each other so everyone’s got great gear. Besides, part of the prank was giving Joe diamond gear. He apparently said he wasn’t going to use diamonds this world and burns them when he gets them.”

“He just burns diamonds?!”

“Yeah.” Tommy shrugged, then walked over to one of many bubble columns. “Here, this one goes to the sixth floor. You guys go first. I want to make sure you go in it and not the others. I’ll show off my shit hermitcribs style later.”

When they got off the bubble elevator, it was something that was recognized immediately. The floor was made of grass and one wall was missing and looking right at the now setting sun. In the middle of the room was a simple bench and a jukebox.

“Your bench.” Wilbur spoke up, making Tommy nod.

“Yeah. There’s also one in the shopping district. That’s for more public stuff. I’ll just be hanging on the bench and other hermits can show up to talk about shit. This one’s for more private stuff like this.”

“Or for letting me cuddle with you.” Grian poked his head up from the other side of the bench. 

Tommy’s face turned a shade of red. “We do  _ not _ cuddle!”

“Then what do you call what we do when you’ve had a long day and need me to come over so you can use my wings as a blanket.”

“Hanging out. Cuddling makes it sound weird.” Tommy crossed his arms.

Grian just tackled Tommy and wrapped him in his wings. “You’re not allowed out until you admit it!”

“Never bird bitch!”

He rubbed the feathers against Tommy’s face. “Say iiit!” Tommy just plucked a feather out making Grian pull back. “Ow! You didn’t have to do that!”

“I thought you wanted us to talk as a family or some shit.”

Grian rolled his eyes, but did nod. “Yeah, you’re right.” And then he sat down on the ground across from the bench. The others found their own places to sit and just sat there in silence for a few moments before Wilbur started the conversation.

“So, you changed your name then huh? Everyone’s calling you Grian.”

Grian nodded. “Yeah, I started using it back when I was in the orphanage and legally changed it when I was eighteen. Though it took a while with the criminal record.”

“I’m sorry, your what?” Philza asked sternly, but Grian just shrugged.

“Yeah I sort of murdered some people. I probably could have found a way around it, but at the time, it was the best answer I had. And I didn’t really have a good support system. I mean, I had friends, but how are you supposed to tell them you have voices in your head telling you what to do when they’re already not the best people themselves.”

Philza rubbed his forehead. “How bad?”

“Well…”

“No, nevermind. I don’t want to know.”

“So, you’re a Watcher?” Techno spoke up in a monotone voice.

Grian used enough of his power to make a third eye appear for a second before making it disappear again. “Yeah, whatever took me from you guys happened again and dropped me off in a world that was like, so many years in the past. I actually got dropped there with a lot of people and the Watchers sort of played around with us. Nothing as bad as what Dream seemed to be doing, just puzzles and cryptic clues and portals everywhere to push us forward in time when they saw fit. Eventually they convinced me to join them.”

“Just like that?” Techno raised an eyebrow.

“Nah, I was a real pain in their side for loads of time before they finally asked me to join. I’m pretty sure it was because it was because that was the one way to get me to stop messing around.” Grian laughed at his own joke before looking sadly at the floor. “First thing I did was start looking for you guys. I assumed you would still be in the castle or somewhere nearby, but the place was abandoned. And it’s harder to find someone when you don’t know what world they’re in.”

Philza started to reach for Grian, but the younger avian’s wings started to puff up in agitation. “You know, I don’t know if I should be happy that I found you or upset. I could have never figured out where you guys were unless I got lucky peering into worlds. Only reason I found out was because Tommy came here. And he only came here because he ended up in a dangerous world with no family helping him. And you nearly took him back there.”

Tommy put a hand on one of Grian’s wings, making him puff up even more. “Hey, calm down Big G. You made sure they couldn’t do that. And if they do try, just knock some sense into them.”

Grian calmed down, though there was still tension in the room and no one spoke. The first thing that broke the silence was a yell from above them. “Tommy! How do you get down? I don’t have a water bucket on me!”

Tommy jumped up from where he was sitting. “Oh shit! I’ll be right there Tubbo!” And Tommy jumped out the window. Grian waited a moment before asking the others to look behind them, which they did just in time for all of them to see Tommy making a face at them all as he went up the bubble stream. A few moments later, Tubbo was going down a different bubble elevator and then Tommy glided in through the window. “Sorry, I keep the down one closed off so the bees don’t wander their way into it on a suicide mission. Tubbo couldn’t find it and obviously he’s not flying around.”

“Can you actually ask him to come up here? I want to say something that involves him.”

“Got it.” Tommy leaned out the window. “Hey Tubbo! Come back up here! Use the one with green glass!”

A moment later, Tubbo exited onto the floor. Tommy pushed Wilbur off the bench to make room for Tubbo to sit. “Hey! How are you so strong!”

Tommy gestured at the room around them. “I mean, I got help from some of the hermits for the interior, but the exterior was all me. I mined tons of shit looking for diamonds and I used it for here. I mean, I also got some help with the flag on top, but otherwise, all seventeen floors were built by me.”

“Seventeen floors?!”

“I know, they’re all as tall as this one so it’s small as fuck. Only big one is the top since I didn't waste an extra ceiling with the roof there.”

“You should do what Tango did last season and add a dragon or two.”

“Nah, might just start making a castle to pair up with it.”

“Tommy! What the fuck!” Tubbo said suddenly. “How did you get so good?!”

“It’s just sort of how we do stuff here on Hermitcraft.” Grian answered. “You were at Iskall’s tree right? That’s his base. He got us to help collect the leaves, but he’s been placing it all.” Tubbo just looked like his head was about to explode. “Anyway, I wanted Tommy to call you here because I didn’t get the chance to tell you. You’re the admin of the smp now.”

“I’m  _ what _ ?!”

“I figured after all I’ve heard about you from Tommy, you would be safe to turn into the admin. Obviously it can be moved to someone else, but you were the first choice.”

“I can’t be the admin! What if I end up like Dream?! I already wasn’t the best at being president! What if I screw up and they put me in pandora’s vault too!”

Tommy hugged Tubbo. “You were a great president, you just had to deal with bad people. And they’re not going to put you in some stupid fucking vault for a mistake.”

“And if they do, we call in Mumbo. Speaking of him, I should call him over.” Grian pulled out his communicator and hit the call button for Mumbo, putting it on speaker for the fun of it. When the redstoner answered, Grian spoke in a dramatic and joking tone into the microphone. “Mumbo. Babe. Light of my life. Father of our children.-”

Though Grian sounded like he was going to continue, a tired sounding Mumbo came through to stop him. “What do you need Grian?”

“We’re at Tommy’s base. Can you come over and meet everyone?”

“I was already planning on finding you. I’m of course on Grian watching duty after that stunt you pulled. I would have already shown up but the redstone blocks finally needed replacing.”

“Remember to bring scaffolding. You know water and redstone don’t mix.”

“I’m well aware. Bye Grian.” And Mumbo hung up.

  
  


Grian and Tommy explained more of everything on Hermitcraft and answered more questions while they all waited for Mumbo. Finally there was the distinct noise of scaffolding being placed and they saw a tower appear in front of the window and then keep going up. From below, they could hear Mumbo talking to someone else he had brought along. “You don’t need that much. Grian said they’re only on the sixth floor.”

“But I want to see Tubbee! Tubbee Tubbee Tubbee!”

“You can see Tubbee later. C’mon, let’s see Grian first.”

After the talking stopped, up the scaffolding came what looked to be a small child. Behind them was someone a bit taller, but obviously still young, and last was a man in a black suit and a mustache.

“Dad!” The smallest one ran over and jumped at Grian. Wilbur looked between Grian and the kid.

“Wait, so that wasn’t a joke. You actually have kids?”

“Well you have Fundy. I have these two. Meet Grumbot and Jrumbot.” 

Wilbur opened his mouth again with a sly smirk. “Is he any good?” and then added in a wink.

When he realized what was being implied, Mumbo’s face turned a bright red and he tried talking but it was all flustered stuttering. Grian has a similar though not as pronounced reaction to the question. Jrumbot looked between his dads confused while Grumbot looked at Wilbur. “My brother and I were merely built and are powered by redstone. We have no organic parts. Our dads are not together and thus have not had se-”

“GRUMBOT!”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having two worlds connect to each other can be very complicated, especially when the admin has just been replaced and he's not sure if he wants to stay as admin.

With the arrival of Mumbo and the bots, Grian and Tommy tried to introduce everyone to each other, but another message came in from Scar about doing paperwork with a mention that Iskall was there for the paperwork with Fundy. Immediately Mumbo flew off back towards the shopping district, Tommy barely getting the chance to cover Tubbo’s ears. Tubbee, who had also been brought down from the apiary floor, used Jrumbot as something to hide behind.

“Sorry about that. Iskall is just not the best at reading contracts and Scar likes to hide things in there for fun. If Mumbo hadn’t beat me to it, I would have gone instead since it’s quieter.”

“He forgot Tubbee doesn’t like fireworks.” Jrumbot spoke, petting the mob. 

“Exactly. Your dad can be very forgetful in the moment.”

Grumbot looked towards Tubbo and then took a few steps towards him. “You act like Tubbee. You must be President Tubbo. It is nice to meet the whole of you.”

Tubbo, who was trembling a little bit even though the sound had been muffled, looked down at Grumbot. “Wh-what do you mean?”

“I didn’t tell him that part yet.” Tommy quickly explained to his nephew.

“I see. It is something from what your admin did. In creating your ‘canon lives’ he made it so when you lost one, a part of your being would be broken off and cast somewhere else. I am not sure what happened to your other part as I do not have that information, but one did end up within this bee as it first spawned.”

Tubbo looked at the bee in Jrumbots arms and then smiled. “Perfect. Always wanted to be a bee.”

Jrumbot looked between Tubbo, Tommy, Tubbee and Grumbot. “Is Tubbee my uncle then?”

Grian picked Jrumbot up. Grumbot had gotten more of the smarts since he was built to be a computer to answer their questions. Took a little more after Mumbo that way. Jrumbot on the other hand had originally just been made to help sell stuff and was created on the younger side, so he wasn’t as smart. In fact, he was more like Grian if his affinity for shears, especially near his one dad’s mustache was anything to go by.

“Well, Tubbo is your uncle’s friend, maybe even an honorary uncle at that. And Tubbee isn’t quite the same. Besides, I don’t think Tubbee will mind if you don’t call him your uncle.”

Grumbot walked over to Philza. “You are Philza Minecraft. Former king of the Antarctic Empire and my dad’s father, making you my grandfather.” He then looked at Techno. “You are Technoblade, former prince of the Antarctic Empire and also seem to loathe all forms of government. We will not get along.”

Techno looked down at Grumbot with a neutral expression. “Smart kid.”

“Grumbot, how did you know that about your uncle?”

“The mayoral reservoirs of course. He would have been a danger to the mayoral campaign if he appeared.”

Grian stared his son down. “Are you telling me the entire time you knew about Techno.”

“Not his location, but I was aware of his character and other general knowledge.” Grian looked like he was about to blow a gasket. “Of course, you never asked, so I didn’t assume you wanted to know.”

“Grumbot, when we get home, only your brother is getting a diamond.”

Grumbot stared at his dad before saying a single word. “Fuck.”

Tommy smiled. He had taught his nephew well.

With a break in the conversation, Tubbo spoke up. “Well, I mean Philza has sort of been acting as my dad.”

That immediately grabbed Grian’s attention. “Why?”

“Well, I’m not sure exactly what happened. One moment I was in the car with my dad, next thing I know, I’m in a box on the side of the road.”

“Your dad abandoned you?”

“What? No! He would never!”

“Hey G, might be like what happened to you?” Tommy suggested. There was a pause where everything was quiet before suddenly Grian changed to have six purple eyes. “Grian! No!”

Grian closed them and crossed his arms as best as he could while still holding Jrumbot. “What’s the point of being a Watcher if I can’t  _ actually _ be one.”

“You almost killed everyone a few hours ago.”

“Dad almost killed someone?” Jrumbot asked, looking worried. Grian shifted him to one arm so he could pat his son and comfort him.

“Yeah, things got crazy for a bit. That’s why we wanted you staying in the hobbit tunnels. Did you at least have fun there?”

The question cheered Jrumbot up. “Yeah! We made more tracks for jousting!” Jrumbot continued to talk about what he and Grumbot had been doing when a message came in on the comms “Dad, Daddy wants your help with Scar.”

Grian sighed. “Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to get that paperwork done. Hey Tommy, where’s your nether portal?”

Tommy led everyone down to the second floor and through a nether portal. Though Tubbo had already been there with Fundy, the rest hadn’t and were surprised by the builds that were in the nether.

“How did you do all of this?!” Wilbur asked, surprised. “We barely had stuff like this in the overworld!”

“It’s actually not that big compared to last season. We use the roof more and everyone has their own separate builds.” Grian’s family tried to resist the urge to shake him and or kill him at how normal he was making it sound. “I’ll have to show you the upside down later.”

Though it took a few small bridges here and there, it was rather quick getting them all back to the shopping district. As the portal was right under the town hall, the group was greeted by music as they came through back into the overworld.

“Is he wasting it on paperwork again?!” Grian asked incredulously to no one in particular. “This isn’t going to help us at all!”

  
  


“It actually makes sense this time as there is the potential consideration of people from here and the smp moving between each other.” Grumbot explained, making sure to glare down his anarchist uncle the entire time. “All the proper forms would need to be done to keep Hermitcraft safe from people willing to destroy it.”

“I’m going in there.” Tommy spoke up, quickly leaving the others behind. Just a moment later, he walked back out with papers in his hand. “I think these mean he doesn’t want to see us right now.”

“What exactly is going on?” Philza asked.

At the same time, Grian and Tommy gave an answer. “Superfast build mode.”

“What?”

“Scar uses vex magic to help speed himself up to do lots of work in a small amount of time. Usually he uses it for building, but recently he’s also been using it for all his mayor work.”

“I… see.”

“Anyway, Grumbot, can you look at the paperwork?” Grian took the papers from Tommy’s hands and gave them to his son. The robot rapidly read through all the papers at a speed that could potentially rival Scar’s own current speed.

“It’s really bad this time. Paying him diamonds, work clauses, extreme zoning laws for temporary housing. You can only grow wheat and chorus fruit, I’m assuming that’s actually a mistake.”

Tommy smiled. “You wanna go in there and fix it.”

Even if they wouldn’t all admit it, the smp members all had a shiver go down their spines as Grumbot spoke coldly and his screen face turned red. “Very much so.” And then he walked up the stairs to the town hall.

“Is he going to kill your mayor?” Wilbur asked, but Grian shook his head.

“No, he only was that serious the first time they met after we finally built his body. It’s only ever near deaths at most. I’m actually wondering if we have more elections if everyone will let Grumbot run.”

“I certainly won’t be giving him permission.” Came Mumbo’s voice as he exited town hall with Iskall and Fundy behind him. “Artificial life or not, he is still considered a child. And Tommy has given him too many ideas. Scar might be exiled for a few days.”

Techno looked like he was about to speak, but was shushed by Philza. 

“Techno, I know you don’t seem to like the government and all, but it works here. I’ve seen hundreds of worlds, so I know how it can all fall apart, but we have literally been doing this for years with not a single problem.”

“Grian.”

“With only one single problem.”

“ _ Grian! _ ”

“Okay, I cause the problems. Mostly. But Tommy helps me with that! But we only very minorly grief and even then it’s extremely rare. And we definitely don’t steal. It’s mainly harmless pranks like chickens everywhere or hiding something in your base that makes noises and you can’t find it.”

“Or secret base bros.” Tommy added in, making Grian look a little confused.

“Yeah, though we stopped doing that ages ago.”

“Or did we?” Tommy asked, somehow looking very racoonish.

Grian looked at his brother. “Okay, concerning, but we can talk about that later.” He turned back to the rest of his family. “In the meantime, I think we should have the discussion I think we’ve all been avoiding a little. Is it just going to be visits, or are you guys actually deciding to move here?”

“What do you mean? You’re not coming with us?” Philza asked, making Grian frown.

“No, of course not. No offense to your home, but it’s a bit of a mess and I’m not sure I could live there without losing my mind. I’m sure that eventually things will calm down, but I’m sure I couldn’t even make half a hobbit hole before it got messed with in some way. Visits are of course on the table, but I’m not going to be staying.”

“But you’ll just be by yourself again.”

“Um…” Tommy started to say, drawing attention over to him. “I’m actually going to mostly stay here. I know Dream is gone and Tubbo’s in charge now, but I just don’t think I can go back there just like that.”

Tubbo hugged Tommy and then Grian pulled the two of them into a hug with his wings. When Philza tried to take a step forward, Grian glared at him. “No. You were part of the problem. You don’t really deserve this right now.”

Mumbo went over to try and comfort Grian, but just ended up making him more agitated. Iskall pulled his fellow redstoner back then tried to change the topic. “So, Fundy, you said you’re Wilbur’s kid. That makes you Grian’s nephew, doesn’t it? That means you have cousins.”

“I do?” The fox hybrid asked before he was tackled by Jrumbot.

“Hi! I’m Jrumbot! Grian and Mumbo are my dads! My brother went in there to talk to Scar, so you may have seen him.”

“Yeah! I did! Wow! This is the best day of my life! I mean, other than the whole going to war part, but everything else was great! New family, hopefully a better server, and I got to hang out with Iskall!”

“That sounds amazing! I got to meet Tubbo! He’s just as fun as Tubbee!” Jurmbot said, happy to share about his day to a new face.

“They seem to get along just fine.” Iskall chuckled. The comment seemed to help Grian relax a bit and he reluctantly released Tommy and Tubbo from his wings.

“Look dad, I’m happy I found you after all these years. But you being my dad doesn’t change the things I saw you do. You sided with people, not ideas, and because of that you would change what you stood for on a moment's notice just to side with someone you cared about. But that hurt others you cared about at the same time. I’ve been hurt enough in my life. Tommy has too. Things here are safe and stable and even then we don’t always have the best days. I don’t normally curse, but it should get the point across. I am terrified of getting close to you right now and you finding a way to fuck up out lives.”

Mumbo and Iskall shared a look. While it might not get through to the newcomers, they had known Grian long enough to know just how serious he was being. They had both seen just how bad it could get for Grian and Tommy and how helpless they felt sometimes when trying to help the brothers.

Philza was quiet for a while before giving a simple understanding nod. “Thanks dad.”

“Well Grian, I’m sure that it’s been a long day for everyone. I’m sure people are tired and hungry and there’s plenty of paperwork to do. How about once Grumbot is finished, we head over to my Hobbit hole for some food.”

Grian smiled at Mumbo. “That sounds nice. Dinner with the whole family!”

  
  


Everyone was pleasantly surprised when they saw Mumbo’s hobbit hole. It was a much more reasonable size. They hadn’t seen Mumbo’s real base quite yet though, so they assumed this was it. It was still quite large from the bumbo baggins society expansion, but that meant plenty of room for everyone to sit at for a meal. 

While there was plenty of variety, golden carrots were the most plentiful and they were gladly eaten for their high saturation. The visitors from the SMP tried not to stare as the bot children were given bowls of nether quartz and red stone to eat. It was hard to even comprehend how they were eating at all as their heads were just computer monitors yet somehow it just worked.

A cake was placed on the table as a joke for all the birthdays everyone had missed but they ended up actually singing. Following that, the dreaded paperwork began, though it was easier to handle now that everyone had a slice of the delicious treat.

While Philza, Wilbur, Techno and Fundy signed paperwork for simply visiting Hermitcraft, Tubbo signed one for visits and for residency. “Tubbo, are you planning to stay?” Tommy asked when he noticed the papers in front of his friend. 

“Well… I would like to. This place seems so nice… but with me being admin now, I need to help the smp. But maybe I can have extended stays in the future.”

Grian looked at Tubbo sympathetically. “Tubbo, you don’t have to be the admin. I’m sure you can find someone you trust enough to move the powers to if you want to stay here.”

“But you made me admin.”

“You were nearby and I knew you probably wouldn’t do anything horrible as admin, but you don’t have to keep them. You are still a kid. You don’t need to keep that responsibility if you want something else.” When Tubbo didn’t look convinced, Grian sighed. “If you want, we can make someone else admin, and if it doesn’t work, you just call me over and I’ll take them away again.”

“Grian, there’s a good chance you could kill someone doing that.”

“And I wouldn’t regret it!”

“Yes you would.”

“Okay maybe.”

Mumbo just gave a very tired sounding sigh.

  
  


As dinner was wrapping up, Grian pulled Grumbot over to a side room. “Alright, you were able to help Tommy out with Tubbo and apparently you knew more about Techno than you were going to tell me.”

“That is true.” Grumbot answered. “But you two build me the way you did.”

“I know, and I really regret it.” Grian pulled out a diamond. “Grumbot, do you know anything about Tubbo’s dad?”

Grumbot took the diamond and then processed the question. He was silent for a few long moments, making Grian start to believe that there was nothing Grumbot could find on the man. But just as he was losing hope, Grumbot spoke again.

“He’s called The Captain.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grian tries to distract himelf after learning what he did from Grumbot, but everyone can tell something is up.

Everyone was concerned when Grian came back in with Grumbot. He looked like he had just learned someone died, but he refused to answer anyone’s questions, just deflect and ask simple questions of his own.

When it was obvious they were getting nothing out of Grian, the questions were turned to Grumbot, but he refused to answer without first being given diamonds, and no one was too pleased about that.

“Hey Mumbo, didja hear they’re keeping Dream in a vault?” Grian tried to change the topic, which managed to succeed as the redstoner’s eyes sparkled.

“A vault?! What techniques are they using? What blocks? How big is it?”

“It’s made of obsidian for the most part, though there are netherite blocks at a gate.” Tubbo answers. “There’s a moving bridge to get there and when no one is on their way to visit, it’s supposed to be surrounded by lava. They even got an elder guardian there so you can’t mine out.”

Grian gives a quiet and relieved sigh as the conversation continues, but then he caught Phil’s eye as he stared at his son. In a moment where everyone was focused on the current discussion, Philza somehow managed to completely disappear and then nearly scared the life out of Grian when he reappeared to pull his son outside.

“Don’t do that again! You scared me half to death.” Grian grumbled as soon as they were out of earshot of everyone else. Philza stayed quiet and continued to drag Grian along until they reached a tree.

“Let’s talk.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Grian replied immediately, not giving Philza a chance to change his mind. He pulled his wrist out of his dad’s grip and took a step back. “Let’s just go back in before people start to worry.”

“I’m sure they can be convinced to leave us alone.” Philza spoke in a gentle voice, though the tone just made Grian more upset.

“Stop trying to parent me. I grew up on my own and can take care of myself. Just because we’re finally reunited doesn’t mean- where did you go?” Grian had looked away, but when he went to face Philza again, he was gone. He was about to angrily head back inside when there was a caw from above. Sitting in the branches of the tree was a raven.

“What the?” Grian stared at the bird before the connection was made in his head. “Dad? Are you…?”

The bird cawed once more before it flew back down. On its descent, it changed from bird to Philza, leaving Grian wide eyed. “You’re right. You grew up on your own. I know you can take care of yourself just fine, but there’s some things that you should have learned that I didn’t get to teach you. You may not trust me, but you should still learn.”

  
  


When Philza came back, he didn’t bother trying to stay unnoticed. For the most part they weren’t worried about him being gone, but more the fact that Grian had left and now hadn’t returned.

“Where’s Grian?” Tommy asked, making his dad shrug.

“He said he needed to get something. He didn’t tell me what, just that he would take a bit longer.”

“Which way did he go?” Iskall asked, getting the hardcore player to point in a general direction. “Yeah, that’s the direction of his mansion. If he’s gone too long, I’ll go looking.”

“What about me?” Mumbo asked but Iskall just gestured to the bots. “Right, yeah. Don’t want to know what would happen with both of us gone. They’re already a handful when we’re there.” To emphasize his point, there was the sound of snipping shears and giggling. Immediately Mumbo was out of his seat looking for wherever Jrumbot had gotten to. “Jrumbot no! What do you have? Who gave you those shears?!” 

Everyone was too focused on the new chaos to find that Techno’s blond hair was now much  _ much _ shorter. At least until Mumbo grabbed his younger son and held him up, shears in one hand, braid of blond hair in the other.

“Jrumbot.” Mumbo said in a cold tone. “Whose is that?” Jrumbot pointed at Techno who was already noticing his missing locks. “Give that back to your uncle.”

Jrumbot started to hold out toe braid before a hatch opened in his head and he hid the braid inside. “No! He can pay me for it!”

Mumbo held Jrumbot closer as the Piglin hybrid stood up, sending glares towards the pair. Tommy grabbed his brother’s arm in an attempt to make him sit down. “Techno, stop, he’s a kid. Younger than I was. Besides, they’ve got amazing tech here. It can be reattached like nothing.”

Before more could be said, there was chirping from a parrot. Everyone turned to see a blue parrot fly into the room and land on the table. Philza looked confused and then spoke to the parrot. “I thought you would look different based on your wings, but you picked it up fast.”

It was quiet before Tommy started laughing. “D-Do you think that’s Grian dad? That’s just-”

Jrumbot interrupted and pushed himself out of Mumbo’s arms. “Professor Beaks!” He climbed up to the table and started petting the bird.

Iskall looked between the pet parrot and Philza. “Can avians change into birds completely?”

“Of their respective bird, yes.”

“I really hope he doesn’t learn how then.” Iskall commented, leaning back in their chair. “He’s bad enough just with the wings themselves and the parrots he has helping him. If we have to deal with a parrot Grian, we’ll have another war.”

“Civil or turf?” Tommy asked. Iskall scratched their head. “Might be something new, but turf might work better if all the smp people get involved. We don’t want them treating it like what wars are like over there.”

Tommy inhaled sharply. “Yeah, that makes sense. Minigames are definitely the way to go.”

“There are wars here?” Tubbo asked timidly, making Tommy give them a hug.

“Don’t worry, it’s not like the smp. Before I got here they had two wars, the civil war and the turf war. Ever since then, other wars are based on those based on how they ended. The turf war was just a minigame battle while the civil war was traps and capture the flag. And even when people died, they always got to respawn.”

Tubbo smiled, not as worried now, but their comfort was quickly gone as Grian walked into the room, having come from the tunnels beneath the hobbit hole. In Grian’s hand was a poster that pictured a very young Tubbo on it. It clearly read: “Missing Child. Toby, responds to Tubbo or little duckling. Age 5. Likes Bees. Brown Hair, Blue eyes. If found, call 555-5627”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long day, it's time to sleep. But when so many memories are brought up, sleep can bring back even more.
> 
> tw: blood, tw: torture, tw: pain, tw: violence  
> just for the parts in italics at the start.

_ His side hurt as he put pressure on the stab wound. He was trying not to pass out as a knife was held in front of his face. “We’re best friends! Aren’t we? Say it! Say we’re best friends!” _

_ He tried not to cry. “W-We are best friends.” _

_ “What about the bag though, isn’t that your favorite part?” The knife was held closer to him. “Best friends know that about each other.” _

_ There were people talking or shouting, but he couldn’t pay attention. “How about later we read some comics? Play some games. You like that, don’t you?” _

_ He was too scared, the words wouldn’t come out and instead he started crying. “Would you just CALM DOWN FOR THREE SECONDS! Just THREE seconds! Alright? You’re just losing your mind a little, got it. That’s all it is. You just need to calm down with me and we’ll sort everything out.” _

_ But he couldn’t calm down. He was holding a knife and could kill him at any moment. He already had a stab wound. No, it was multiple at this point. How didn’t he notice them before? “Please… I-I’m not-” _

_ “Don’t you DARE say that again! Say it and I’ll lose my marbles. You don’t want me to lose my marbles, do you.” _

_ He didn’t. If they weren’t already gone then losing them could make it worse. Or maybe better? Maybe death would be better. He could just be another ghost like the others who had died. _

_ “Here! How about a high five!” It wasn’t a stab, but a punch and his face started to throb. “You’re just goofin and gaffin around, aren’t you.” And then another punch. “How about a little tickle?” And a pain erupted from one of his wounds as it was poked in some weak imitation of a tickle. _

_ “Please! Please I’m not him!” _

_ “What are you talking about?! Of course you are! Are you insane?!” The knife glinted as it moved down and stabbed him, his already brittle bones snapping. It was too much and he screamed loudly. _

  
  


It was too tight, why was it too tight. Was someone talking? It sounded like it but the words weren’t processing in his brain. Something about night and bread and robots and birds. There was something black surrounding him. Was it going to hurt him? Stab him? ‘You’re my best friend.’ the sentence replayed in his mind. “No no please. I don’t want to be. I’m not him.” He managed to speak out, hoping he would listen to reason.

There was chirping as something bright blue came into view. It was calming as it moved closer until it wasn’t. Something darker on it glinted and he started screaming again. He didn’t want to be stabbed. Not again. He would do anything. He’ll wear his clothes, live in his house, but please don’t hurt him.

“Grian!” Someone shouted, but he shook his head. That wasn’t his name. He was Taurtis. He had to be. He wouldn’t get hurt anymore if he was Taurtis. He pleaded for Sam to listen. He was his best friend Taurtis. He wasn’t Grian and Jerry wasn’t Taurtis. He was Taurtis.

  
  


“I haven’t seen him this bad in ages.” Mumbo spoke, trying to comfort Tommy and Tubbo. The bots were fortunately still sleeping as it was programmed into them. Everyone else was staying in come beds that had been set up in a different room so they weren’t close enough to be woken up. But Tommy and Tubbo had stayed up far too long catching up and Mumbo had stayed in a room with Grian. All of them heard the moment he started screaming. Mumbo was pushed out of bed by Grian’s wings as he thrashed around and the other two had run in to see what was going on.

“He had nightmares when he first joined the server back in season six but they got better over time. The only other time it got bad again was during the head games and a few people showed off their rabbit heads.” Mumbo explained after a few other questions.

Professor Beak has also been nearby and woke to the sounds. He flew over to Grian as he mumbled something, sounding like he was pleading for his life. That seemed to calm him down for a few moments before the screams got louder. The bird was handed to Tubbo who held him close and Mumbo tried to soothe Grian.

It was agonizingly slow, but Grian was calming down. He was no longer screaming and just weeping, begging not to be hurt and that he would be someone named Taurtis. With that new information, Mumbo was able to calm Grian more effectively, not knowing what nightmare was being had.

Grian was still out of it when he was fully calmed down, mainly from the exhaustion that came from not having a good night’s sleep and from exerting himself so much in his panic after waking up. 

“We’re going to have to take him to his mansion.” Mumbo started to explain as he hefted Grian onto his back. He wasn’t that heavy due to his avian nature as they normally didn’t grow that tall and had hollow bones like most birds. “He does better in familiar places and my old hobbit hole isn’t really a place he frequents. More just a place the children like to play.”

When Mumbo opened the bedroom door, he almost ran into Fundy who was holding the pillow from his bed, ears down against his head. “What happened?”

“Oh shit, that’s right, Fundy’s part fox.” Tommy cursed, remembering that meant he had much better hearing. “I’m guessing the screaming woke you up?”

Fundy hugged the pillow a little tighter. “Not right away. It found its way into my dreams first before I finally woke up.”

“I’m really sorry about that.” Mumbo apologized. “Grian’s having a nightmare of his own and it’s really bad. Say, your dad was wilbur, right? The tallest one? Any chance you could wake him up? With Grian like this I can’t really fly us there, minecarts can only fit one, and the nether isn’t the best place if you’re unconscious. I’m sure I can get him there myself, but having someone to trade off with would be best and the taller the better with Grian’s wings dragging on the ground.”

Fundy nodded and went to wake his dad up, he seemed to wake up Techno and Philza too as they also arrived behind Wilbur who was yawning and looked like he wanted to complain about being up so early. Techno at least kept his expression hidden and while Philza looked equally as tired as Wilbur, he woke up when he saw Grian’s condition.

Quickly, Mumbo explained what was going on with Grian and how they would be going to the mansion. He led them over to the minecart tunnels since Grian’s own hobbit hole wasn’t too far from his base and it was a safe path, especially since the sun wasn’t out yet and with how tired they all felt, there may be phantoms.

Tommy and Tubbo worked on waking the bots up as the tunnel was opened. Jrumbot ran to catch up asking many questions as Grumbot just watched with an expression of concern. Normally he was more robotic and logical, but Tommy could tell he was trying to hold himself together as the bot crushed his and Tubbo’s hands in worry.

At around the halfway point through the tunnels, everyone paused as Grian was moved onto Wilbur’s back. The avian gave out a sad whimper from being moved and Mumbo did his best to give comfort. Jrumbot pulled out a green robe which made Mumbo side with a hint of frustration as he recognised the item, but he did take it and place it over Grian like a blanket.

Tommy makes them wait a little longer as he places down his ender chest and pull out a coat that Wilbur immediately recognizes. He starts to argue about it with his younger brother but it starts to upset Grian and they stop without any warning needed.

As they exit through Grian’s side of the tunnel, Tommy explains how he first holed up in there when he showed up. He’s asked how Grian didn’t notice he was living in the same house but then corrects them. “No Grian moved out ages ago. I moved in because it was abandoned.” As they continued walking Tommy pointed out in the direction they were traveling. “He’s living there now.”

They were all left stunned as they strained their necks looking up at the building towering ahead. As if it weren’t impressive enough, Tommy added another comment. “He’s still not done with it and he also built a replica in the nether that is completely upside down.”

As they reached the base of the stairs, Wilbur looked like his back was going to give out just from looking at them all. Fortunately Mumbo took Grian back and also led them down instead of up. “He started with the basement first. It’s still quite large, but not as much and is mainly a storage system. He spent far too long ignoring the actual interior of his mansion.”

“And the back.” Tommy half whispered before laughing at a joke that no one but Mumbo really understood. Well, the bots did as well, but they were too worried about Grian.

Finally Mumbo reached Grian’s bed and laid him down in it. He gave the coat back to Tommy much to Wilbur’s dismay and put the robe in his inventory which made Jrumbot mad. 

Everyone looked exhausted and Mumbo excused himself from the room. He gave Tommy a look and the blond distracted Tubbo so he didn’t hear the distant noise of a firework. Mumbo wasn’t gone for too long as he reappeared with the beds that had been left behind, letting everyone get back to sleep.

  
  


Iskall yawned as there was a knock on the wood of their tree. They were surprised to see Xisuma there and tried to make themself at least a little more presentable and not look like they had just woken up. “Hi Xisuma. What brings you here?” They said, stifling another yawn.

“Scar and I were up late going over everything having to do with the smp. We were debating getting rid of the time displacement protection or if we should help the new admin place the same kind on their world. Eventually the topic changed and we ended up on who all lives there. When you and Fundy were at the town hall for paperwork, he wrote a list of everyone there, or most if he can’t remember everyone.”

“Okay, and?” Iskall asked, not seeing where this was going. Xisuma just handed them a paper that was covered with Fundy’s handwriting - paw writing? - and Iskall read down the list. When they finished reading, they looked back up at Xisuma. “So?”

Xisuma pointed to a certain name on the list. “Read it again. Aloud this time.”

Iskall rolled their eye but then looked down and read the name. “Hbomb Aka Hbomb94.” Iskall was about to say more before they finally had the gears turning. “Wait, Hbomb?! That’s where he disappeared to?! I guess that makes sense why we couldn’t contact him.”

“I figured you would want to know. I’ll go see Ren and Stress next unless you want to tell them.”

“I’ll just message the whole group. They’ll want to know and we can have another meet up.”

Xisuma nodded and flew off as Iskall pulled out their communicator. They exited out of the main hermit chat and scrolled down to one labeled ‘vault boys’. They pulled up the chat box and started typing.

<Iskall85>: I know it’s only 8am for some people here.

<Iskall85>: but my friend Xisuma just showed up.

<Iskall85>: H is located.

<AntonioAsh>: are you saying you want a new meetup with him involved

<Iskall85>: of course. He’s been left out of the other times.

<AntonioAsh>: how soon are we talking?

<Iskall85>: maybe a week?

<StressMonster>: our time or normal time?

<Iskall85>: sounds like X is turning the displacement off for a little bit, so both.

<AntonioAsh>: I’ll see if I can make it, but it’s not a guarantee.

<Iskall85>: that’s fine.

<CaptainSparklez>: I’m down. Need a break from wrapping my head around Create. Okay if I bring my kid?

<Iskall85>: definitely. I’m sure she’ll love it.

<CaptainSparklez>: alright! Keep me updated!

<Rendog>: let me sleeeep


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war has passed and slowly a new normal is being created. New friendships are formed and old ones are able to return.

Over the next few days, things with the two worlds improved. Xisuma removed the time displacement on Hermitcraft which a number of the Hermits were glad about, having friends in other worlds. Tubbo had returned to the smp and was no longer admin, or rather, he was no longer the only admin. He didn’t want to just push the responsibility to someone else and had been conflicted about what to do until Xisuma spoke to him and informed him that multiple people could share the powers. Since Tommy wasn’t coming back, Tubbo’s next choice was Ranboo.

While Tubbo was in the smp, Ranboo came to visit, panicking a little at the fact that the portal was just sitting above an ocean. Of all the hermits, Zedaph was the one to create a redstone machine to push the infinity portal elsewhere. Scar followed along to create an island for visitors, now regretting he has used up his superfast buildmode for paperwork and had to wait for the magic to charge up again.

A few people from the smp came to visit and Scar was right there to hand them the paperwork they needed to sign. Grumbot arrived after the first two contracts were signed to help the smp members from not noticing the fine print. When someone nearly killed Scar for having added a secret clause in the paperwork, he was finally convinced to listen to reason.

After the island was blown up for the twelfth time, Cub and Scar ended up getting some vex to watch over the island. If only blew up four more times after that. Five if you counted the vex helping one time.

Tommy hung out at the island trying to help keep things under control. While he did much better than the other hermits were with trying to reason with the smp members, it still helped emphasize how much of a hermit he had become.

Philza regularly visited to try and see Grian, but he had been out of it since his first nightmare, having a few more since then. Mumbo was one of the few people able to safely stay around Grian as not even the bots could easily see their dad. Grumbot was of course able to stay distracted running damage control on Scar. Jrumbot had followed his brother along to the island, but for a different reason. He still had Techno’s braid and a child selling it looking unscathed caught people’s attention. 

The bidding had finally reached five diamond blocks when Techno came through the portal and snatched it back, getting Scar to use his magic and reattach it. The warrior walked back to the smp, only returning to drop off Jrumbot who had tried to sneak back with him.

A few hermits also went to visit the smp, trying not to make those members feel too bad about how the place was compared to Hermittown. Iskall stayed the longest, travelling around until he found a distant savannah with a village near a jungle. He got there just as Hbomb returned, surprised to see the hermit. 

The two of them chatted for a bit, reminiscing of when they had all been swept away to the land of the vault gods for three months. Iskall added H to the vault boys chat, making the other four people in the chat get excited. The redstoner invited his friend to hermitcraft for a get together two days from then. Hbomb gladly accepted, glad to see some old friends again.

The day before the meet up, Ranboo returned to the smp and Tubbo came back, immediately finding Tommy to hang out with. The two ended up playing a few small pranks on the hermits. Tommy taught Tubbo how to glide with an elytra, strategically avoid any questions about how to do something other than just gliding. Tommy also had to run damage control on Jrumbot after the child heard Tubbo wanting to really fly and proceeding to sell something that would help that was definitely not fireworks.

As the day ended, the two friends retreated to Tommy’s tower. He finally gave a proper tour before setting up some beds in the apiary and used an armor stand trick Cleo had taught him to make them a campfire that wouldn’t hurt any bees.

Tubbo was the first of the pair to wake up from their communicator buzzing. He tiredly opened it up to read the message, laughing at the antics that were going on in the chat.

<CaptainSparklez> But do we really want her finding her way into redstone?

<Iskall85> Can’t be worse than a potato.

<Hbomb94> :O

<Hbomb94> :OOOOOOO   
<StressMonster> Who did you find now?

<HBomb94> HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS WITHOUT HACKING!!!

<Crumbl> sprimkl soo many punkims

<Rendog> That doesn’t help narrow it down.

<CaptainSparklez> Alright Crumb, what else can you see?

<Hbomb94> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

<Crumbl> bedrkrok. Ngrothogm bderock!

<Iskall85> That’s Impulse   
<Hbomb94> WHY IS THERE JUST A THRONE OF DIAMONDS?!

<GoodtimeswithScar> Hey, that’s my throne

<Hbomb94> WHY DOES IT EXIST?!

<CaptainSparklez> Who can take me to Crumb?

<Iskall85> On my way.

<TommyInnit> What’s going on?

Tubbo looked up to see Tommy awake and looking at his communicator. As Tommy typed away, Tubbo looked back down to see the message.

<TommyInnit> And H, the explanation is that they’re hermits. There is nothing else that can be said

<Iskall85> remember how I told you about the time I disappeared for 3 months along with Stress and Ren

<TommyInnit> ye

<Iskall85> H was one of the people who showed up with us. I invited Antonio and Sparklez over along with H for a meet up, but Antonio couldn’t make it. But Sparklez brought his kid.

<Hbomb94> WHAT IS THAT TOWER?! WHY IS IT SO BIG! AND WHY BLUE BLOCKS?! AREN’T THOSE HARD TO GET?!

<TommyInnit> pog

<Crumbl> thsers a birdd

<Iskall85> probably a pesky bird Grian left behind.

Tommy got up from his bed and started putting things away. “Hey big T, you want to go find this Crumb kid?”

Tubbo smiled as he got up. “Sure!”

  
  


Grian woke up with a start. It hadn’t quite been a nightmare, but it wasn’t really a dream either. Mumbo was still asleep next to him with a combination of bed head and bed ‘stache. He pulled the redstoner a little closer with his wing and tried to go back to sleep, but buzzing from his communicator didn’t help.

Finally, Grian pulled the device out to see what was going on, only to find a flood of messages that he couldn’t find the start of. He saw the names of two players he didn’t recognize immediately. But based on the reactions from other hermits, they were guests. 

Grian chuckled at the first of the two players who seemed to be freaking out at everything the hermits had built. The second seemed to be lost and a third player named Sparklez was looking for her. As messages kept pouring in, Grian switched his communicator to silent before curling back up with Mumbo.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New visitors mean new people to interact with, and Tommy and Tubbo wouldn't mind a new friend.

As Tommy paddled the boat, Tubbo watched their communicator. “It sounds like she’s not at… wherever we’re going anymore.”

Tommy cursed. “Any clue where to go now then?”

Tubbo glanced down at the messages.

<CaptainSparklez> She’s not there anymore!

<Rendog> How? It’s surrounded by water

<CaptainSparklez> She’s a shapeshifter, not a hybrid.

<Crumbl> yuoll nrrver find mee sprinklez

<CaptainSparklez> Again. You’re a shapeshifter. Why are there feathers left behind.

<Crumbl> I dinit mumch them.

Tubbo looked up and scanned the ocean before pointing out on the water. “Those feathers over there! It’s looking like she left them behind.”

Tommy smiled and turned the boat to follow the trail of feathers. It took a little bit, but the pair did reach land near a forest, though it had started raining. “Where do you think she is?”

Tubbo shrugged. “Don’t know. We don’t even know what she looks like.”

A calico cat walked nearby, then ran as the pair walked near it, making Tommy notice it. “Hey, must be a village nearby. Maybe she’s there for shelter?”

“I hope so. But she might just be hiding under some trees.” Tubbo suggested. As they continued to walk, Tommy saw movement near a tree and started to run toward it. Tubbo watched him run and then noticed the coloring of the form. “Tommy! Wait! That’s a-” The mob exploded. “-Creeper…”

“Aw myan!” The cat said as it sat down next to Tubbo, making them jump.

“Did that cat just talk?!” Tubbo said, nearly shouting from shock.

Said cat changed into what resembled a cat hybrid that reminded Tommy vaguely of Fundy. “Ye! I’m Crumb!”

“Cool! I’m Tommy and this is my friend Tubbo!”

Crumb tilted her head. “Ooo, really? Well I came here with Sparklez, he’s my dad. But i’m hidin’!”

“Want to hang out with us while you hide?” Tubbo suggested and the shapeshifter nodded, changing back into a cat and flopping over Tubbo’s shoulder. “Let’s boat back to your place and show it to Crumb.”

The now trio got into the boat and Tubbo watched as Crumb used her paw pads to type on her communicator and send a message.

<Crumbl> sprakle i made frends!

<Crumbl> Im gonna play wit tonmi and tubbox

Tubbo laughed. “I actually can be a Tubbox.” Tubbo said, making Tommy speak up as well.

“Tubbo in a box, what will he do?”

“Uwwu I’m so good at this!” Crumb replied proudly and Tubbo could feel her purr.

“So is what the captain said true?” Tubbo asked. “Are you really a shapeshifter, not a hybrid?”

“Ye! I um, I’m a badass shapeshifter!” Tommy and Tubbo tried not to laugh at the sound of this cat with a voice like that saying something like that, but they couldn’t hold it in and Crumb also started laughing along. “I’m super strong and beat the Ender Dragon when we had lotsa random potion effects!”

“That sounds so cool.” Tubbo complimented Crumb and then the three of them continued to chat as they rowed along.

  
  


Sparklez was glad to see another message from Crumb and see she had made some friends. When he read their names, he froze for a moment. It couldn’t be. This was nowhere near where he should have been. He shook his head. No, it was just coincidence. Crumb probably just misspelled it when typing.

<CaptainSparklez> Alright Crumb, have fun. Just don’t get in trouble.

He laughed as a message came back, distracting him from his previous train of thought.

<Crumbl> No prmosed! Were ginna conmit crim!

  
  


“I’m a danger to society!” Crumb shouted as she pounced on a chicken, no longer just a cat, but looking like a very squishy cat that could be mistaken as a stuffed animal at a glance. She had wanted to stay a cat, but by complete chance, another calico cat showed up and Tommy and Tubbo nearly went after the normal cat. She also liked how the pair approved of such a squishy looking cat going left and right killing mobs.

When a parrot flew above her, she jumped to try and grab it, but it was just a little too high for her to reach. “Come down here! I wanna eat you! Mumnch and crumnch!”

The parrot squawked and flew over to land on Tommy’s head. “Oh, leave this one alone. I think this is one of Grian’s. Part of his pesky bird delivery service. 

“But it just looks so tastyyy! Crumb jumped again. It made Tubbo wonder how much of it was just how she acts, or if being a cat so long made her act like one.

“Oh, speaking of Grian. He sent me a message.” Tommy says as he pulls out his communicator. With the flood of messages from the visitors - well, one in particular - Grian sent the message on their own private chat.

<Grian> bring Tubbo if you want but it’s parrot brain hours

<TommyInnit> he probably won’t be coming. We made a friend with one of the guests. Don’t really want to leave her all alone.

<Grian> that makes sense.

<Grian> and bring any extra wheat you can

<TommyInnit> okay, definitely not letting Tubbo come. It’ll shatter my manly image.

<Grian> dad left me books about shifting and I’ve had plenty of time to read. Did you know I can just give myself a beak or talons without shifting completely?

<TommyInnit> woah, hey. Alright big G, I’ll be there as soon as I can.

Tommy looked up to see Tubbo glancing at their communicator. “He messaged me directly, H is talking too much.” Tubbo nodded. “Big G wants me for something. Okay if I let you two hang out by yourselves?”

“Ye! We’re gonna have lotsa fun together! And den we can go see my dad!”

“I can’t wait to meet him!”

Tommy waves and then starts to boat off, using it as a platform once he’s far enough out at sea to safely use his elytra. He stops at his base and goes through his chests, making some hay bales. Afterwards he flies to the mansion and up near the roof where he knows Grian is going to be. 

It was a room made in one of the side roofs of the mansion. The main one sat above the great hall with windows wide open, but the areas to the side were a little more closed off. This one also had a large window, but there usually wasn’t much in there.

Right now however, the place was littered with a few beds and wool and hay bales. Grian was in the center of it all, wings spread out. In the small room they looked much larger. 

“Hey, I brought the hay.” Tommy joked, holding out the bundled wheat. Grian immediately took it and started spreading it around. “Hoo boy. Are you sure you don’t want Mumbo here, orrrr?”

“Oh he definitely wants me here.” Mumbo’s voice speaks up as he pushes a wing off him, only for it to flop back down, pinning his legs. His tie is loose and his suit is a mess along with his hair. “It’s been fine for a while. Just stay in bed, maybe wake up in the middle of the night to a nightmare. I forgot how he gets when he’s like this.”

Tommy nodded. He had only really seen this twice. The first time he managed to decline, much to Grian’s dismay, but the second time there was no way out of it with Grian now knowing they were brothers.

Tommy knows he could have said no this time, but seeing everything that happened the day of the war and the night following made Tommy worried, and he wanted to be there.

Grian smiles as he finishes moving blocks and beds and carpets around. He nudged a few stray pieces of wheat and cotton around with his feet and wings. He knows it would be so much easier to use his hands, but it just doesn’t feel right. 

The avian stares at the nest he’s built. It’s perfect. Maybe a little small for right now, but that’s just because the kids are still on their way. He thinks that he could make it bigger. Big enough to fit the rest of his family, but they aren’t around. So he settles for Mumbo and Tommy. 

He pulls Tommy into the nest, making sure he’s comfortable before putting each of his wings around Tommy and Mumbo. Mumbo half bats the wing away as feathers get into his mouth, but he’s too exhausted from helping to set this up in the first place to complain much more.

Grian holds them close. He could lose everything else if he still had the people he cared about most. He would do anything to protect them.

  
  


Crumb is excited as Tubbo boats the two of them towards the shopping district. She really wanted her dad to meet her new friend. And Tubbo was very much a new friend with a nickname and everything.

When they landed, she hopped out of the boat and shifted to a hybrid form before running off to find her dad. Tubbo was left running behind her, aging a little trouble keeping up.

“Sprinklez!!! Look at my new friend!” She jumped into her dad’s arms, shifting back into her cat form. He looked around not seeing anyone for a moment before a panting Tubbo caught up.

“You… couldn’t have… waited for me?” Tubbo panted out, trying to catch his breath.

“Dis is Tubbox! He has another friend but but but I don’ have a good name for him yet so he’s just Tommy.”

Sparklez smiles and shifts Crumb to hold out a hand. “Nice to meet you. Captain Sparklez. But most people just use my last name or even just use Jordan. The one exception being Crumb who likes to call me Sprinklez or of course just Dad.”

Tubbo’s eyes sparkle. “Wait, you’re the Captain?! I’ve heard so much about you! You travel across so many worlds and are known for the songs you’ve written and your curse! I mean, the curse isn’t the most popular thing to know about, but uh…”

Sparklez just laughed. “It’s fine. I’m sure I’m going to get rid of it soon enough. Glad to meet another fan, especially if you’re friends with Crumb now.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty pog.” Tubbo jokes and they continue to talk. He doesn’t give his real name since Crumb seems to like using ‘Tubbox’. He doesn’t know how much it could change their life’s if he did.

  
  


The netherite blocks go up and there’s the sound of redstone being messed with. He looks out to watch as the lava slowly disappears. Across the chasm he can see an equally black and white figure. He can already feel the energy on them.

Even with his admin powers gone, he still has some tricks up his sleeve. And there are always strings to pull.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream may have been stripped of his admin powers, defeated and put in the vault he ordered to be built in the first place, but he still had his ways to get what he wanted.

Dream was only half paying attention as he worked. He really only replies with yes’s and no’s and nodding along. He was glad the mask hid his surprise when he found that not all the admin powers were there and even less of the Watcher’s influence. Ranboo hasn’t been given the powers directly, but the fact that they had initially been moved by Grian in the first place was enough.

Like an infection, the powers that were linked to Dream himself and not the role of an admin spread into the fragments of energy and magic the Watcher had left behind. It was supposed to act as a label warding off those who would want to mess with those a watcher had claimed in some form or another, but it was also something Dream could use.

He froze when he recognized parts of the energy, similar to signatures he had messed with before. Ranboo said something and he tried to play it off, but he could tell the new admin suspected something. Dream started actually focusing on the conversation until Ranboo no longer seemed suspicious. 

Once again, Dream looked at the magic and realized it resembled that of Philza and his sons. That’s right, the watcher has said something about a third son that Philza lost, other than Wilbur and Tommy. It had rattled the hardcore player. And Philza was an avian just like Grian.

Dream started with something small. He might be trapped for now, but he could still do whatever he could to bring his favorite pawn back.

He paused to continue the conversation with Ranboo a bit longer before getting another idea. One wasn’t enough with him. Maybe with what little there was, he could still find a way to mess with the whole set. But before he could get far, Ranboo was starting to leave. It was fine. Two would be just enough.

  
  


Grian started feeling sick, he looked around and saw Tommy and Mumbo sleeping next to him, the bots curled up with each other in their own sleep mode. He tried moving in a way to not disturb them but his head spun. His vision went dark for a moment and the next thing he saw was the floor of his mansion getting closer. He was surprised he wasn’t dead from falling that far, everyone else was too. Everyone was trying to figure out what was going on. 

Someone pointed it out. This had all started after his family showed up. Maybe it was their fault. But someone else said that it was just the freak out of losing Tommy. It was the war, one person shouted and then more joined in. They were letting people that made war join this server, this safe place. Who would be next? Xisuma wasn’t making it safe anymore. The new server was a problem and he was a problem.

All of Grian’s eyes started looking around, some of them peering into other places on the server. He just needed to find the admin and set things right. He was still dizzy, but Grian pushed himself to his feet, talons scraping on the ground. He dragged himself towards the front door and then flew into the air. The sky started darkening and thunder rumbled before purple magic swirled around him to help bring him to his destination.

  
  


Philza stumbled, putting a hand to his head. Wilbur caught him before he could fall. “Dad, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t know.” Philza managed to get out, a wave of nausea hitting him. His wings felt heavy and they unfolded, now dragging on the ground. Wilbur cursed next to him and then started talking to someone. It sounded like it was probably Techno. Philza felt weak on his feet, but for a moment the rest of his strength returned. Something in his mind was screaming that he needed to get out of there.

Wilbur called out, trying to get Philza to stop as a raven flew away to escape dangers he couldn’t see.

  
  


Crumb jumped as thunder struck and she shifted to a more humanoid form, though her hair retailed her signature calico colors. “Dat was waaay too loud!”

“Yeah, I know. My friend Fundy gets scared by lightning a lot due to him being a hybrid. I’m not sure I could deal with sensitive ears like that.” Tubbo moved a hand towards some burn scars he had. It managed to go unnoticed by Crumb, but Sparklez.

“What happened?” He asked, making Tubbo realize what he was doing. “You don’t have to say if it’s a sore subject.”

“No, no. It’s fine.” Tubbo looked down at their feet. “I just got trapped before some people killed me with firework rockets. But that was before. Instead of president, I’m Admin Tub-”

There was another sound of thunder as a bolt of lightning struck near them. Crumb and Tubbo both covered their ears while Sparklez shielded them. He blinked the spots out of his eyes, glad that his sunglasses helped with some of the blinding light. Where the lightning had struck stood a form. The captain assumed it would be a skeleton horse that spawned due to the storm, but it was much taller. Another bolt of lightning lit up the creature and Sparklez drew his sword. “What’s a harpy doing here?!”

“Harpy?” Tubbo asked before seeing the looming form of whatever was being referred to.

“A type of bird hybrid, though normally they’re smaller.. But either way, they shouldn’t be in this dimension.”

“They shouldn’t be in this dimension. Shouldn’t be in this dimension.” Sparklez’s voice echoed clearly.

“Oh my god, that’s not a fucking harpy!” Tubbo exclaimed as he started to fumble for his communicator. He needed to warn someone now.

“God, god, god!” the ‘harpy’ parroted back. Another bolt of lightning lit him up and Tubbo froze as Grian’s bright purple watcher eyes all looked down on the trio.

“We need to run!” Tubbo grabbed Sparklez and Crumb and started pulling them away. Their communicator ended up on the ground in the scramble to run and a taloned foot stepped on it, breaking it into pieces.

  
  


Tommy was stirred by his sleep from his communicator buzzing followed by rumbling thunder. He yawned with a small shiver and looked around to see Grian was gone. “Bitch coulda woken us up too.” Tommy complained before pulling out his communicator. More messages started coming in, so he scrolled up to read the first one.

<Tubbo_> Grian’s a watcher again! We need help!

<Tubbo_> We’re in thjgrknilvsfehmdb

<Iskall85> What? Mumbo was supposed to be watching him

<Hbomb94> What’s going on?

<Docm77> Nothing good.

Tommy scrolled through the messages as he shook Mumbo awake.

<FalseSymmetry> Why isn’t Xisuma responding?

<Iskall85> I’m trying to see where his comm is.   
<Iskall85> shit, both his and Tubbo’s are completely down.

<BdoubleO100> What are we going to do?!

When Mumbo complained about being woken up, Tommy shoved his communicator in the redstoner’s face. Reluctantly Mumbo took it and started reading and Tommy moved to wake up the bots. After a few seconds, Mumbo jumped up. “Grian’s not here!”

“Yeah, I saw! He’s wherever Tubbo is but no one knows where that is! And apparently Xisuma is fucking dead or something!”

“Oh this is very not good!”

“You think?!” Tommy manages to wake the bots up. “Last week he was worried about us, so maybe we can convince him again?”

“I don’t know, it’s a little different every time.”

“Well that’s just great!” Tommy shouted, snatching his communicator back. 

<TommyInnit> If anyone gets eyes on Grian or Tubbo, send a message this way. If we can’t at least calm Grian down, I at least want to keep Tubbo safe.

“What’s going on? Jrumbot asked, sounding concerned.

“Something’s wrong with Dad.” Mumbo answered, picking Grumbot up. “Tommy can you fly down with Jrumbot?”

Tommy shook his head. “You know I’m stronger than you. You carry Jrumbot down, I’ll take Grumbot.”

Mumbo nodded and handed Grumbot to Tommy before the two glided down from the nest room.

  
  


The captain stood, weapon drawn as Grian walked closer. They moved towards a shop that was well lit and finally he got a good look at the watcher. He did indeed look like a harpy, though corrupted by the watcher magic. 

As Sparklez kept his eye on Grian, he felt a pang of sadness as he recognized something. Though for the most part the form was staying consistent, he could see feathers shifting unnaturally, the forms of arms becoming clearer and then fading from where the wings were. He had seen this before back when Crumb was first learning how to shapeshift, not quite sure how it worked. It made his wonder how much of this the watcher was in control of.

He didn’t have much more time to dwell on that train of thought as a wing swept towards him. He swung his sword, the blade cutting into the feathers. There was a screech of pain from the Watcher and he pulled back. He seemed to be ready to attack again but paused, tilting his head. Sparklez watched, trying to read his opponent, but then had to cover his face as Grian flew into the air, making the wind whip around. Before he could recover, he felt what felt like claws against his chest. They were gone a moment later as his back was slammed against a wall.

“No! Tubbox is my friend!” He heard Crumb speak, making him look back up. Grian had grabbed a now struggling Tubbo. Crumb was holding onto Tubbo as wings swiped at her, but she shifted her form and moved around to keep from being hit. Finally Grian started flying, dragging Tubbo along as well as Crumb as she refused to let go.

“Crumb! No! Let go!” Sparklez held out his arms, hoping she would let go and he could catch her. But she didn’t and the two of them were taken away by the Watcher as purple magic teleported them away. The captain fell to his knees, just staring at the now empty space in the air.

  
  


A raven landed in front of a building of blackstone and obsidian. It shifted back to human form and hit the button, sending a signal to the warden. He traveled through the nether portals to meet with Sam. Answers came out of his mouth that he couldn’t even understand, but it seemed the warden was able to. He was guided to a platform and soon he was walking across to a prison cell with Dream standing within it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's clear in Grian's mind that these new people aren't supposed to be here. They're supposed to go through the portal. So he puts them there.

“Oh myan oh myan oh myan!” Crumb wiggled her stubby cat legs as she held onto Tubbo, her smaller form going unnoticed by their avian captor. “Where’s he takin’ us?”

“I d-don’t know.” Tubbo replied, trying not to sound as scared as he felt. “I o-only came here recently. T-Tommy’s the one that knows everything.”

“Well, Sprinklez will definitely find us and and he’s gonna slay dis beast!”

“What?! No! He can’t do that! That’s Tommy’s brother! There’s just something wrong with him. Tommy used seeds last time so we need those.”

“Okee okee okee, I’ll look for seeds when we land.”

“Thanks Crumb.” The two were otherwise silent as Grian continued to fly, but then they both noticed as he seemed to sway in the air, his flight no longer steady. “Um, Grian? Grian? What was the other name? Xelqua? I know Tommy’s been calling you Big G, even though it feels like he’s- woah!”

Grian’s flying straightened out and then his face appeared as he looked down at Tubbo. Tubbo froze, there were feathers all over the place and even more eyes than before. While they were mainly purple, his two original eyes were now a more reddish hue.

Tubbo could feel Crumb shift on their back, thankfully out of sight. There seemed to be a little whimper their ears picked up, but it didn’t seem Grian heard the same, or just assumed it was Tubbo.

Grian looked back up and with him no longer blocking the view, Tubbo could see Grian’s mansion getting closer. His old hope was that maybe Tommy was there.

Grian landed on the roof of the place, dropping Tubbo and making Crumb roll on the ground. He spotted her instantly and immediately grabbed her instead. “No! Leave her alone!” Tubbo shouted, but he didn’t listen. The teen could only watch as a portal of bedrock and obsidian appeared. Magic that matched Grian’s eyes appeared in the frame as it was lit and then Crumb was tossed into the portal.

Crumb screamed as she was thrown through, scared about what would happen and what would be on the other side. She seemed to be falling for an eternity and was scared about what would happen when she finally hit the ground. She thought about making sure she was really a cat to try and mitigate it, but then realized a more obvious answer would be a bird. 

Not wanting to become a parrot after everything that just happened. Crumb shifted into a chicken. She spread her little white wings and her descent slowed, allowing her to finally get a look at her surroundings. Based on the chill of the air and the darkness of the world around her, it looked like the void. Crumb looked around, hoping to see the creamy yellow color of endstone, but there was none to be seen.

“What’s a chicken doing here?” Someone spoke up and Crumb started looking around. Beside her, also falling, was a man in a bee suit.

“Dat’s one big bee!” Crumb said, shocked, surprising the bee man as well.

“Oh, you must have been one of the visitors. I was told there would be a shapeshifter.”

Crumb nodded and then shifted to her cat hybrid form. “Ye, I’m Crumb. I came here wit my dad Sprinklez. Are we in da void?”

“Not quite. I’m not sure where we are. If it were the normal void I could easily get us out of here, but that’s not the case.”

“Aww, well, I was wit my new friend Tubbox and den a big harpy lookin’ guy attacked us and apparently he was my other new friend Tommy’s brudder.”

“So that was Grian. I wasn’t completely sure it had been so fast. I tried contacting the other Hermits but my communicator isn’t working and I can’t even reach my admin panels.”

“Oh dat’s not good.”

“No it is not.”

  
  


Tubbo tried to run to the portal, but was stopped by Grian. “Bring her back! She’s my friend! Tommy’s too!”

But Grian just stared as he tried, getting in their way. Tommy didn’t say anything about a cat friend, right? No, he didn’t. It was just Tubbo, and now Tubbo was going to be safe. Tubbo will go in the nest and stay there while he gets rid of everyone else. Grian dragged Tubbo over to the window near the nest and started to break the blocks to get in. Halfway through, he noticed the nest was very empty.

Someone took them, a voice shouted. Or killed them came another. They may have just gone looking. Or are hiding. They’ll come back for a Tubbo, right? Right. Grian liked how helpful the voices were being. He plopped Tubbo down in the nest.

“Let go of me! And bring Crumb back! She’s our friend!”

“Bring. Back. Friend.” Grian parroted. “Bring back friend.”

“Yes!” Tubbo pleaded. “Yes make another portal to bring Crumb back. Her dad will be so worried if she’s gone again.”

“꘠႑𑁦᠑෦१߀០ ⓿೧꣠༠፩⓵១୧ ႐Ⅰ㍘〇¹႞٠१ ႐Ⅰ㍘〇¹႞٠१ 𝟘᧚༳᧑➊০౸፩” Grian spoke in a language Tubbo had never heard and could barely comprehend. He covered his ears only to find them slightly wet and pulled a hand back to see blood come back, though it was turning a purplish hue. That freaked Tubbo out and he scrambled away, trying to find an escape from the roof that wouldn’t kill them.

But before he could go far, Grian grabbed him again and when their eyes opened again, he was in what seemed to be a large nest. “Uh… h-huh… guess that makes s-sense for a bird. Avian. Harpy? W-whatever you are right now.”

He’s scared of you. He should be. But he’s Tommy’s friend. Tommy asked you to keep him safe. Why is it purple. Duh, because of the Watchers. But he’s not one, right? But it happened because of Grian. He’s still bleeding though.

Grian looked closer at Tubbo, they were right, he was bleeding. But no, it couldn’t have happened because of him. It had to have been that outsider. One of the ones causing problems. Just like Xisuma had been. But now they were both gone. Now he just needed Mumbo and Tommy and his children here too. And then he could get rid of everyone else that shouldn’t be here.

Grian left Tubbo in the nest as he flew back into the air, using Watcher magic to take him elsewhere in the world.

  
  


Philza woke up to someone shaking him violently, it made his eyes snap open and look around to see iron bars surrounding him. He planned to look around more for a way out but a giant white mask with a smile on it was peering at him, shocking him and making him squawk. It was then he realized he was currently in his raven form, and there was no way he could shift back while in what was most likely a bird cage.

“Took you long enough to wake up.” Dream spoke to him. They were both outside, which shouldn’t have been possible with the former admin in the vault. “I suppose rest was needed after your fight.” Phil couldn’t remember any fight. “I had no idea Grian was your son. I guess it makes sense with his achievements, even if you abandoned him for most of his life.” Philza crowed, trying to argue with Dream, managing a ‘fuck you’ with his mimicry skills as a raven. But the cage just got rattled around again.

“Tommy doesn’t belong in a place like that. He belongs here. Watchers are dangerous beings Philza. You leaving him there is practically a death sentence. It would be best if you went over there and brought him back along with anyone else that’s over there.” Philza tried to argue, but he suddenly had a dizzy spell. “People like me don’t just become admins. We have to jump through hoop after hoop. I may not  _ be _ an admin anymore, but I’m not powerless. You have two options here. Bring Tommy back, or don’t and I bring him back myself. And I won’t be as kind as you might be to him.”

Philza wanted to argue, but if Dream could do this, there’s no telling what could happen to Tommy now that it was obvious this man wasn’t playing nice anymore. He bowed his head in defeat and the next moment the cage was opened and he was dropped out of it. “Now don’t take too long, or I’ll assume you’ve betrayed me, and it’ll be even worse for the two of you.” Dream threatened, and Philza nodded before flying to the infinity portal.

  
  


Grian looked down at his friend defending the enemy. Is he really your friend anymore if he’s doing that? Maybe they were more friends with Xisuma than you. He was gone for three months, why wouldn’t he change sides for that. “Grian, you need to calm down. We can’t find Xisuma right now, so if you-”

“Can’t find Xisuma. Right now. Down.” Behind Iskall, Hbomb pulled out an axe, ready to fight Grian. Reluctantly Iskall pulled out a weapon of their own, not completely willing to fight their friend, especially since they had some trouble when all the hermits had been there.

The moment H took a step, Grian attacked, and Iskall barely had time to react and attempt to get between the two. Their shield was held up, but there was enough force from Grian’s attack that Iskall felt themself be pushed back until they collided with Hbomb. There was what sounded like a portal behind them and Iskall spawn a glimpse of what looked like bedrock before they were falling.

Grian watched the portal disappear, a pang of guilt hitting him. He didn’t want to get rid of Iskall, but he had to. People like that weren’t supposed to be here. They needed to go into the portal-pit. Tools in the portal. Gear in the pit. Enemies in the portal-pit. Yes. It was all very logical. Right?


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mind is a dangerous thing to mess with. For a hybrid, messing up can leave them relying on instincts. For a Watcher, it tends to end up with people dead. It doesn't help when the two are mixed.

Tommy hated how soon they were already gathered, preparing for another war. Hermitcraft was safe, the only wars were simply fun between friends. But now it was just like back on the smp. “I’ve got my disc box ready.” Tommy put the shulker in his inventory, looking over at Mumbo. “What about you?”

“I’m not really the best at these fights, so I’m just geared up and hoping I don’t die helping people out of here.”

“Help people out? What, are some of the hermits chickening out?” Tommy joked to lighten the mood, but it didn’t help.

“No. No one is going to just run off during all this. Grian’s our friend, practically family. But plenty of the people from your old world have been visiting. And with how you’ve talked about them, I doubt all of them will leave even though they should. And… Xisuma isn’t here. I don’t know how its supposed to work, but if he’s not here, we might not respawn.”

Tommy felt his blood run cold. He hadn’t thought of that. He could actually die. It had been so long since he was worried, having only one canon life left. He remembered Xisuma telling him he had ten, and every time he asked if a death counted, the admin said it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t until election 2 that he thought it  _ had _ to be canon when he finally realized that he was never going to run out of lives. No one was. But now he could. 

“Well, I know them best. I should probably help with that.”

“You’re a better fighter, if either of us is going after Grian, it should be you.”

“Look, how about we just both fly over there now and help get people out, and when the fighting starts, we fly back to give whoever was already fighting a break.” Tommy suggested, and Mumbo reluctantly agreed.

  
  


Grian was flying towards a new island, one he knew was going to have everyone that wasn’t supposed to be there. Maybe Tommy will be there too. No way, he’ll be after Grian. But some of those people were his friends, right? Don’t you remember, Tommy said they abandoned him, exiled him. He forgave Tubbo easily. That’s different. How? Oh shit what’s that. Did Grian build that? AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!

Grian stopped listening and actually focused on the portal that had appeared in front of him. He hadn’t made it, especially since he didn’t have anyone to put there. So he tried to fly around it. It disappeared thankfully, but another appeared. Tubbo did say that cat was Tommy’s friend too. That was a cat? We could go and bring her back out. She might know where Tommy is! Oh that’s true! Grian dived into the portal.

“Oh look who finally dragged themselves home. It’s Xelqua.” Grian looked for the voice, then glared at them.

“You know I haven’t used that name since I was in your world Lynn.” Grian ruffled his feathers before preening them.

“Duck meat.”

“Mystic bitch.”

“Seed breath.”

“Rabbit freak.”

“Feather fart.”

“Pa-” “Grian, Lynn. Calm yourselves.” Grian stopped his insult to look at who approached.

“Sorry Zloy.” Grian said, rolling his eyes and then sticking his tongue out at Lynn.

“I saw that.”

“I know you did! What don’t we see?” Grian crossed his arms. Can he really boss you around like that? That dude is big. Bet you could- Grian shook his head to get those pesky voices to shut up. “Why am I here?”

“Pin was really upset that you left so early. Noah’s the only one that didn’t mind, but obviously you should have stayed longer.” Zloy spoke in a disapproving tone.

“Hey, Tommy is my brother. If Gxrgeous didn’t let things get this bad-” Grian started to complain, but Zloy cut him off.

“She doesn’t want to interfere like the rest of us.”

“Oh but Noah, Goof and Pin can? I’m a watcher because they interfered. You get more watchers by interfering.”

“And what, did you want Tommy to be one too?”

Grian felt his feathers puff up with agitation. “No! Of course not. I’m just saying she could have stopped things before they got to children being put in wars!”

“And here you are making more.” Lynn taunted Grian, making him even angrier.

“They started it by showing up in the first place to take Tommy! I only broke my promise to save him!”

“And what about now?” Zloy asked, drawing Grian’s attention back to him. “Why continue it?”

“Contin- What are you talking about? What, is Gxrgeous upset I’m helping out where she failed?”

“Pixlriffs, did you open up a window yet?” There was an answer of affirmation and suddenly Grian was staring into a watcher portal.

  
  


“And den we went to space! And dere were impastas and I got ta be one wit my dad, and we killed everyone and Sprinklez was so happy!” Crumb explained to Xisuma. The admin nodded along, half paying attention as he tried once more to access his admin panels and get them out of there.

“X! Where are we?!” Xisuma looked up and then around until he saw Iskall getting closer, falling from above with one of their other guests, Hbomb.

“I have no clue. I’m not getting any readings and I can’t access any admin panels to get us out of here.”

“Hey! You guys are my dad’s friends!” Crumb recognized Iskall, though she had only briefly seen him, and the other guy looked familiar, so that must have been who Sparklez said they just found. “We’ve been falling forever and it, well it was getting a little lonely but now we can share more stories!”

“Well, based on what was going on, might be something to do with Watchers with how Grian was looking. Though he was going to kill me when we saw him.”

“I have absolutely no clue what’s going on.” Hbomb spoke up, hoping the other three would have some explanation for him. Okay maybe just the two hermits, he wasn’t completely sure how much he would get out of Crumb.

  
  


“What does he mean with how I was looking? I’m just trying to hang out with my family!” Grian argued, making Zloy look a little confused.

“Grian, you started using your watcher powers to attack people. You threw those four in a Watcher portal, but as there is no new world prepared yet, they’re stuck in a place where no world exists.”

“What? But, I mean while I have trouble controlling myself when I’m using my watcher powers, I can remember everything once I’m a little more lucid. I mean, you remember the explosion.”

“Of course, Pixlriffs ran to me as soon as he noticed it was happening. Do you really not remember this going on?” Grian shook his head. “That’s not good. And we can’t look into it much if you’re here, so we’ll have to send you back.”

“Zloy, if you have to interfere, don’t let people get hurt.” Grian suddenly felt small and nervous, scared for his friends' safety. “And please, try not to let me go too haywire.”

“We can try, but until we know what’s going on…”

“I get it. But you better get Gxrgeous’ help too since this involves them now.”

“We will.”

Another portal appeared and Grian recognized the world of Hermitcraft on the other side. He didn’t want to go through, but if he didn’t now, he might never get to return. So he stepped through. Do you really think they know what they’re doing? Yoooo it was Zloy. Are you new, we’ve seen him before. We still need to keep Tommy safe, right? Hey Philza logged in. The dadza! Dadzaaaaaa. Guys, now I want pizza. What if he takes Tommy? Oh yeah, he shouldn’t be here either. Infinity portal time guys.

Grian sped up his flying, more determined to reach the island now.

  
  


Tommy was surprised to see a familiar avian as he and Mumbo landed on the island. “Phil? What are you doing here?”

The hardcore player looked surprised to see Tommy so soon. “I’m actually here for you Tommy. What’s going on?”

“Grian’s gone crazy and is apparently attacking people. I’m here to help get people back to the smp with Mumbo.” He moved to push Philza back through the portal. “So now is like the worst time for a visit.”

“Feels like it’s more of a perfect time to bring you back.”

Tommy, who was more focused on helping everyone else, suddenly looked over at Philza. “What? No, I’m staying! I’m staying right here! You should understand that! I’m going to help Grian! Just because you didn’t have him for like 15 years or something, doesn’t mean he’s not family!”

Philza grabbed Tommy’s arm. “And that’s exactly why you should come back. I saw him start going on a rampage because of you. What if this is just some of the same?”

Tommy shook his head. “That could just mean me leaving could make it worse.”

“Guys! I know your argument must be very fascinating, but I’m pretty sure that’s Grian flying towards us!” Mumbo yelled to get their attention and Philza and Tommy looked up to where the redstoner was pointing, Grian indeed flying towards them. 

Tommy yanked his arm away and started to pull out his shulker box when purple energy formed around the watcher avian and suddenly he was gone. Tommy’s eyes scanned the sky until a yell came from right behind him. When the blond turned, he had to crane his neck up to see the form Grian had taken. He looked like something out of stories he heard from one of the hermits. Angels with multiple wings and eyes covering them. Tommy could tell it was Grian, but at the same time, he didn’t.

“Dear lord.” Tommy heard Mumbo mumble. Grian was holding Philza in talons as a portal slowly formed made mostly of bedrock. Though Tommy was upset at his dad, he still didn’t want anything to happen to him. Fortunately the hardcore player could handle himself and stabbed Grian. He dropped to the ground and lost his health, but not knowing where that portal would lead, it was a better option. 

Tommy ran to his dad, ready to defend him, but the Watcher’s attention was drawn by another smp member who was trying to get to the infinity portal. With a swipe of a wing, Grian pushed the smp member into his own portal. A moment later he was going after someone else.

“Tommy, He’s after people from the smp.” Philza realized. “He’s going to go after you.”

Tommy didn’t want to believe it, but he knew the communicators didn’t work between worlds. That’s why they couldn’t find Xisuma or Tubbo. “Then let him, Tubbo’s gone. He’s got to be in there too.”

“No Tommy. If he’s after us, he won’t stop until we’re all gone. If you want to help Grian, you have to come home!” Tommy was pulled to look his father in the eyes. He hadn’t seen Philza look this scared in ages. And he was probably right. 

“Okay fine. Let’s go back.” Tommy nodded, and then followed his dad towards the infinity portal. Right before they could reach it, Grian noticed and dropped the person he was holding to go after Tommy, but before he could reach them, they had gone through.

The moment they got to the other side, Tommy regretted his decision. “What’s Dream doing here? Why isn’t he in the vault.”

“Tommy, come on, don’t be so harsh.” Dream spoke, trying to seem like no threat, but Tommy knew better and drew his weapon. “You came back with your dad, so as promised I won’t be too harsh on you.”

Tommy inhaled sharply, turning to look at Phil. “You were working with him?! Grian’s back there and you thought that bringing me back to Dream was going to be better than me helping my brother?!”

“Tommy, he-”

“I don’t want to hear it! I’m sick of trusting you! You always say you’re going to be there for me, but then you turn around and work with someone who’s going to hurt me.”

“Tommy, I’m your friend, I won’t-”

“Shut up green bitch. I’m going back!”

“No, you’re not going back Tommy. Once everyone comes back from visiting that little vacation world of yours, we can close the portal.” Dream spoke, sounding much too confident on something that wouldn’t be happening.

“Then we’ll have to close it now. If they haven’t come in now, they’re not coming through.”

Dream chuckled. “Oh I’m sure they’ll come through. I’ve got someone over there to bring them to the portal.”

“Kinda hard if Grian already got to them.” Tommy crossed his arms. “He’s tossing them in some weird bedrock portal and they’re disappearing. Unless Tubbo came back here.”

Dream stopped. That wasn’t supposed to be happening. “No, they were supposed to be put back through the infinity portal.”

It took a bit for Tommy’s mind to comprehend what Dream meant before he jumped to attack the former admin. “What the fuck did you do to Grian?! This is your fault, isn’t it?! Tubbo’s gone because of you!”

“It’s fine.” Dream gritted out. “He… the watcher messed with you. Saving you when you were falling. Ranboo didn’t have enough of his signature on him, but you. You’ve got to be around him all the time. I can use that.” Tommy tried to run, but Dream anticipated it. “Philza, grab him.”

Raven wings trapped Tommy. He turned around to yell at his dad, but there was just a blank look on his face. “What the fuck are you doing to my family?!” Tommy yelled, trying to escape the wings on his own with little luck.

“I’m just going to make sure everyone comes home and then we can go back to how things were before you ran away. And what better way to do that then to use the power of a Watcher.” Tommy wanted to argue again, but the handle of an axe crashed against his head, and the world went dark.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even when someone tries to mess with him, Grian still cares.

Grian ignored the other smp members as he tried to get through the portal. Stupid watcher form and stupid small portals! He just needed Tommy. Tommy needed to be safe. Mumbo wasn’t leaving so he would be safe, but Tommy was through this portal. That wasn’t safe.

He went through the portal himself, just leave him. No, obviously Philza pulled him in there. We are going a little crazy though, maybe it’s safer? No way!; We were protecting him, not Dadza. Should we even be calling him dadza? Watcher.; Release them from the portal. Is there any way to get smaller. I take back what I said about the 6 wings being cool, they’re just in the way now. Make one of the bots go there for him? If Jrumbot goes, he won’t be coming back. Lol yeah, he wouldn’t.

There were a lot of good suggestions, though two similar ones stood out. He could send someone through to get Tommy. Grian started to make another watcher portal to pull someone out, but then shook his head. No, why grab one of them? That wouldn’t be safe for Tommy. He closed the portal again, then looked around and grabbed Mumbo. The redstoner didn’t expect it and had no time to resist and now could only rest helplessly in Grian’s talons.

Grian plopped down on the ground to get better movement of his legs. For a moment things got even fuzzier. What did he have? Was it food? He moved it closer. Oh no, that’s Mumbo! That is not food. Why did he have Mumbo?

You idiot we need Grumbot. Is Grian okay? Guys, what if this is our fault? Mumbo can probably get us to Grumbot. DO NOT EAT THE MUMBO! Guys, it’s obvious why he thought Mumbo was food. Dude, say it and you might get banned. Watcher.; Release them from the portal. Lol I’m only joking. What if he just uses Mumbo instead of the bots? He can rebuild Grumbot if he dies. Dude, not cool. Noooo what if grumbot diesssss!

Grian briefly thought about opening the portal again. Grumbot wouldn’t like it if he got broken and Grian didn’t want to send Mambo there. Mambo. Mambo is a fun type of music. Is there any music around? That would be nice to listen to.

Aaand we’re losing him again. Is Zloy going to come fix this or what? Pixlriffs might instead. Guys, Caterpillar rave! Oh no what have you done! Boo chee boo chee boo chee bu.

Grian started dancing. The voices were making nice music. Oh and what was that? Mamb- Mumbo was saying something. “Grian? Are you okay? What’s going on?” That’s right, he wanted someone looking for Tommy! And Mumbo could do that, couldn’t he. So Grian put Mumbo through the portal. No the infinity portal. Why did he almost put Mumbo in the watcher portal. In fact, why was that there? He was supposed to get something from there right? Why did his head hurt so much?

Grian stopped thinking about that when Mumbo came back through the portal, but he didn’t have Tommy, so the Watcher pushed him back. But again he returned. And again and again and again! He couldn’t get Tommy back if Mumbo didn’t get Tommy. Wait, he was talking.

Grian focused on Mumbo as he spoke. “Grian, that portal that keeps appearing, did you put Xisuma and Tubbo in there? Yes or no.” Oh he was always so nice. He knew just what to do. “Yes. And. No.” Mumbo’s own voice came back.

“What do you mean yes and no?” Oh wait, how do I put it so you can answer. Hmm… Oh, maybe one at a time? Is Xisuma in there?” “Yes.” “Is Tubbo in there?” “No.” Mumbo rubbed his chin. “Okay, well, we still need Xisuma back.” Why did he need Xisuma back, he would just keep letting these enemies in. “Your form is a bit dangerous right now, and if you somehow killed one of us, there’s the chance we couldn’t come back.”

Grian scoffed at the idea. He wouldn’t hurt his friends. They were his friends! How could Mumbo suggest such a thing! But… Tommy probably had that fear. Maybe he  _ had _ gone willingly because he was scared of that. Oh no what had he done! Grian opened the portal again and then flew into it.

  
  


Crumb had curled up on Iskall’s back and started to sleep. None of them had any idea how long they had been falling, just that slowly they had gone from one to two to four and now to seven. Iskall was projecting a game of checkers with his eye which two smp members were playing with to pass the time.

There was a noise, and everyone paused to look up, expecting to see someone new falling in to join them, but they were surprised to see Grian. The lack of gravity proved a problem as some smp members drew their swords and axes with enough force to actually start them spinning around. The Watcher stared down at everyone before speaking. “What is going on? I thought, well last I saw there were only four of you!”

“Grian?” Xisuma spoke up, hopeful about his lucid state. 

“Right, this is a watcher plane!” He ignored Xisuma for the time being. I wish I could remember what I was doing before I came in here.

“Maybe you were here to get us out?” Xisuma spoke up again, getting Grian’s attention.

“Oh X, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. I mean I literally don’t know since I can’t remember what I was doing just a minute ago. But yeah, getting you all out of here does seem reasonable and… oddly familiar. Probably just me trying to remember.

“Are you doing okay?” Xisuma asked, really taking in Grian’s form.

“Yes and no? I don’t know what’s happening. The other Watchers pulled me away to help me sort of figure out what’s going on, but it’s not the perfect method to let me know what’s going on. For all I know the moment I leave, I’ll try to throw you all back in here.”

“Woah, dat’s a giant bird man!” Crumb exclaimed, waking up from her nap. Grian looked down at her, cocking his head to the side.

“Hello there. I don’t think I’ve met you.”

“Oh! I’m Crumb! My dad is Sprinklez!”

“Sprinkles?”

“Jordan Sparklez. One of my friends from the vault days.”

“Right. Vault gods.” Grian frowned. “Never were a fan of them. Freaked me out when no one could see where you three went.” He then chuckled. “You know, if all of you were here, I would have thought it was their fault.”

“Yeah, well Antonio didn’t make it, though H did.” Iskall pointed to Hbomb, who waved.

“Well, that might do it. I can’t be sure but… once you’re out, before I can do anything more, you’ll need to shout out about it possibly being Vault gods. Zloy should see.”

“Zloy?” One of the smp members asked, making Xisuma look over at them.

“Grian Is a Watcher who just resides in Hermitcraft. There are Watchers, normally multiple, that watch every world. Grian’s told me that one named Zloy is a Watcher of Hermitcraft.”

Grian nodded. “Yeah, you guys have a number of them, but the one in charge is Gxrgeous.” Grian shook his head. “We’re getting off topic. I’ll grab onto some of you and the rest hold onto me.”

After everyone was situated, Grian flew them up and out through the portal he came in through in the first place. The sudden change of energy affecting him made him crash, sending most of the rescued people flying. Immediately, Xisuma was shouting into the air the message Grian wanted sent and just as he finished, he was grabbed again by Grian.

This was good. He got Xisuma out. Mumbo would be very happy. But wait, there are more people out. Why are they out too? They are supposed to go in the portal. They must have escaped when he was grabbing Xisuma. That wouldn’t do. 

Grian tried to grab the others that were rescued from the portal, but a few of them followed Mumbo’s guidance to the infinity portal and escaped that way. Grian was upset, but ultimately it was fine. They were still gone. There were just two left to get rid of. This cat thing and one other person. 

Isn’t that thing a shapeshifter? Oh, what if she turns into a giant cat? Small brain: Godzilla vs King Kong, Big brain: Grian vs shapeshifting cat. Cat vs bird will not go well. If grian is tweety and the cat is sylvester, he’ll be fiiiiiine. Hey, if it’s really Tommy’s friend, maybe it’ll also leave.

Grian stopped listening to try and grab Crumb before she could do anything more. Just before his talons could wrap around her, a form moved in front of her, holding a sword of some purple material. “Stay away from my kid.” They spoke. For a moment Grian was upset at the new opponent before realizing it would be much easier to get rid of these people with them now in the same place.

A portal formed behind Crumb and Sparklez. Grian could see as the cat noticed it and panicked, though her dad refused to talk his guard down. When the watcher attempted to push them in, he was stopped by Xisuma. “Grian, you need to stop.”

“You need to stop.” Grian replied, wanting the admin to get out of the way.

We kinda did just try to save X, so we don’t want to get rid of him again. Maybe these two are fine and we can just leave them. Why does that guy look familiar? Watcher; Tubbo. What kinda sword is that? Ah yes, I too call my cat my child. Again, isn’t she a shapeshifter?

Grian was trying to figure out why the voices thought this person was familiar. And why had someone mentioned Tubbo. Suddenly one idea popped in his head. “෦႑፩㍘¹١₁𝟘 ꘠❶᱑⓿౸۰༳๑ ႐Ⅰ㍘〇¹႞٠१ ౦Ⅰឱ꣠༠৴០߁” He asked, but no one seemed to respond well, most of them covering their ears. A few people cried in pain, but one stood out. Grian looked at Mumbo and immediately regretted saying anything. The mustached man looked like he was in agony.

Right now everything else could wait. Grian moved and grabbed Mumbo. Grian heard someone try to stop him, but this was important. He took to the air and let magic swirl around him until he was suddenly back at his mansion. The watcher ignored whatever Tubbo was saying to focus on the redstoner, hoping nothing too horrible would happen to him. “M-Mumbo…” Grian mumbled, worried about what might happen.

Tubbo moved closer and immediately Grian was ready to attack them. How dare he try to get closer to Mumbo! But then Grian saw how terrified he looked. Tubbo was Tommy’s friend. He cared for Tommy as much as Grian cared for Mumbo. Or almost as much. Grian… Grian should bring them back together. He needed to. Why did he need to? He didn’t question it and just grabbed Tubbo. The teen seemed to yell in fear, but the Watcher didn’t listen, just took the two of them back to the infinity portal.

Grian put Tubbo through the portal before sitting down in front of it. If anyone could bring Tommy back, it would be them. Their world wasn’t safe and Tommy would want to come back. So he would. It was just a matter of time.

  
  


Zloy mumbled as he looked at the documents Pixlriffs had brought. Vault gods weren’t common to deal with, but it would help explain why none of the Watchers could figure out what was going on. Zloy sent for someone to find Pritt since they had the most experience with Vault gods in recent times. The biggest event had been when three of Zloy’s hermits were taken by the Vault gods, but smaller events had occurred after that. 

In an accident, they had tried to make claim to Grian, not recognizing his Watcher status. Immediately after that, they tried for Mumbo, but that was also shut down. He doubted they were attempting to go after Grian again, but at the same time, he knew there was some truth to their claim on him. Vault gods were powered by the voices that were channeled through a person. Everyone had the potential for that, some more than others. The three hermits had taken days to recover from the sudden silence that met them on their return. And Grian had always been hearing them. He had learned to block them out, but maybe that wasn’t enough anymore. And if it wasn’t a Vault god, what could do all this?

  
  


Dream got the notification of Tubbo’s return. Everyone was back. He could close the portal. But an idea crept up from the back of his mind. What if they tried it again? What if one of them built a new portal and it led to somewhere else. Using a Watcher was helpful, and Dream didn’t want to give that up.

The former admin turned to look at the still unconscious form of Tommy. He could try and use the connection to convince the Watcher to come here. Then he could close the portal. It would be perfect.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tides are turned, and soon Dream is winning the war.

Grian realized waiting was easy. No one was running around or trying to hurt him. People were trying to give him seeds and played music! And the voices liked how nice people were being too. But at the same time, the Watcher couldn’t help but worry. Why wasn’t Tommy back? Maybe he should go through himself. But it was a small portal. An enderman could barely fit, and to a watcher, those mobs were rather short.

What if you just got smaller? But he looks so dope like this! maybe he’s like a… i forget the animal but if he can get his head through he can get the rest through. Why’s he trying to go through anyway?; he’s basically a giant monster who’ll be attacked if he goes through. But he’s powerful. He’ll be fine!

Grian had move voices talking, and one seemed very convincing about going through the portal. Yes, it was a perfect idea. He just needed to squish himself through the frame. A number of Hermits tried to stop him as he started to move. He shook a wing as a lead caught on it. Another tried to catch him, but he moved out of the way and it managed to tie Mumbo up. Oh! He could bring Mumbo as well. Two heads would be better than one. He gave a chirpy laugh as Mumbo seemed to scream as he went through the portal. Grian followed behind, though he struggled squeezing everything through. There was a flash of white light, and then nothing.

  
  


Dream could feel the Watcher enter the world. He made sure that Tommy had no easy escape from his current prison before the former admin left the room. He walked in the direction of the portal. Everyone was here and his new piece of leverage had arrived. All that needed to happen now was destroying the portal and having the powers of admin returned to him.

  
  


Mumbo’s face hit grass as he ended up on the other side of the portal, tied up in the rope of a lead. He started to look up and had to squint at the bright sky. Had he blacked out and the storm had passed? But looking around, the only familiar thing in his vision was the infinity portal and Mumbo realized he had gone through it.

There was a squawk as Grian came through the portal. Mumbo tried to get up and reach his friend, but the fact that he was tied up had slipped his mind and he ended up just essentially wriggling around. Grian leaned down to look at him and Mumbo met the Watcher’s eyes with a gasp. Mumbo remembered when Grian was using his watcher powers, he could see how the eyes almost never looked at the same place, always focused on watching everything. The two main eyes may have just looked purple, but Mumbo could always see the symbol of the Watchers that seemed to have imprinted itself within the pupils.

But right now, all the eyes looked down at Mumbo. They all looked glossy and somewhat unfocused. Instead of their purple color they had a reddish-magenta hue and the symbol of the Watchers was absent. “G-Grian? Are you okay?”

I mean, obviously he’s not. Yessss, stare into his eyes! If Grian’s a bird, does that make Mumbo some kind of-

Mumbo immediately started to try and get out of the robes that tied him up. No. No this couldn’t be happening. He had told them no. They said they wouldn’t try again. Grian had made it very clear that Mumbo was under his claim as a Watcher. He shouldn’t be hearing voices.

After a bit more struggling, Mumbo was free. He was able to stand up and brush himself off, then start to put Grian towards the portal. “Alright Grian, back in the portal.” Grian just moved out of the way and chirped at Mumbo. “Don’t be such a spoon of a bird! In the portal!” He tried again with no luck. He was about to try again when he noticed someone approaching. Mumbo had no clue who they could be or what they might do. He had heard some of the horror stories Tommy had told, so Mumbo decided his best option was to hide.

Using Grian as a wall between him and whoever was arriving, the redstoner stayed quiet, trying to listen. He could hear them approaching, walking on the grass, and then they stopped. Mumbo nearly peeked out from behind Grian, but then they spoke. “No clue why the Watchers put up with you. You’re clearly out of your element Grian. But that being said, you’re useful. And now you’re in a world with people more like you than any of those Hermits. No reason to leave.”

Mumbo’s heart dropped as he heard what sounded like a beacon powering down and then the magic of a portal shattering. As if living in an unknown world wasn’t bad enough, now there was no escape. 

And we’re stuck here. Mumbo’s a genius, he can fix it. He’s only a genius at redstone, it’s hopeless. Maybe he-

Mumbo forced himself to stop listening. Grian had started to move and he needed to follow to stay hidden. Until they reached the nearby forest, there was no other place to hide. Mumbo slowly kept in step with Grian, creeping his way until they finally reached a tree. He used that as cover instead and to finally see what was going on.

The redstoner recognised the man donned in lime green that stood next to Grian. He was the one to show up in Hermitcraft and come after Tommy. One that many of the horror stories had been about. And for whatever reason, Grian was following behind him. Mumbo wanted to shout, to reason with Grian, but his fear for his own life kept him hidden and quiet. 

Mumbo watched as the two left, and then he felt safe enough to move. Grian had made Tubbo the admin, right? And he had made… someone else one too. But he couldn't remember their name, and Tubbo’s communicator still likely wasn’t working. Nonetheless, he tried, only to get an expected error message. Who else could he contact?

Tommy! Ranboo. Fundy might work? Tommy might be with Philza so either of them. Wilbur or Techno? Quackity! Sam. Why would you ever try Quackity? Because you can, lol. 

Mumbo didn’t know all the names, but Tommy and Philza seemed the most reasonable. Mumbo sent each of them a private message, summing up what was going on and trying to give a warning. There was no error message, but also no reply, so the redstoner could only hope they saw the messages. And then he started moving, hoping to find something to help him, like a place to stay or materials.

  
  


Dream toyed with Grian’s addled mind. If only he knew how easy it was to capacitate the dream slayer. He could hardly believe that this was what he had been terrified of for so long. He could enjoy this for a while, but right now, he needed to do what he planned to from the start. He had summoned Tubbo and Ranboo, knowing they would have their guards down. As far as they were concerned, Dream couldn’t do anything and they could do anything as admin. Oh how wrong them were.

Dream walked to another room and sat at the table, leaning back in his chair as he waited. It only took a few minutes before Ranboo and Tubbo appeared in the room. Tubbo seemed a bit disoriented from the teleport, but Ranboo as an enderman took it well. “Tubbo, Ranboo, how good to see you.”

“You should be in the vault Dream.”

“You two have something that doesn’t belong to you.”

“Grian made me the admin.” Tubbo spoke up, sounding confident. Dream smiled at it, he had no ideal anything he tried would be futile. Anything either of them did.

“Well, he doesn’t have to keep it that way.” Dream stood up, walking to the doors. Tubbo and Ranboo looked ready to attack, but then he opened the door.

“Grian?” Tubbo sounded hurt and worried for the Watcher. The essentially mindless beast gave a trilling coo which left the admin pair unsettled.

“Now, you have something that belongs to me.” Dream spoke. He filtered his own thoughts into the mind of the Watcher and then he could see the watcher magic flow around Tubbo and Ranboo. Dream felt energized as the admin powers were given back to him and he saw the pair grow exhausted from the energy being drawn from them. Now everything was just how it should be.

  
  


Mumbo kept chopping at trees with his netherite axe, gathering resources. He Put down an ender chest and was glad to see all the usual contents were there. He used some of the diamonds he had to craft a chestplate, thinking that would be a bit more useful. One shulker box was cleaned out of items Mumbo wasn’t completely sure he would need and instead house more essentials.

As he cut down another tree, there was a wave of energy leaving Mumbo looking around. There was nothing obvious that it could have been. It still left him on edge, and he put his supplies away, switching to his sword.

Creeping through the forest, Mumbo was prepared to attack. Even if he wasn’t the best fighter, or really a fighter at all, at least he might have an element of surprise. Above him, the sun was starting to set, helping him even more as his black suit and hair blended into the shadows. Mumbo was starting to wish he had gone to False’s sparring sessions more, but there always seemed to be one redstone project or another he thought was more important.

Light caught Mumbo’s eye and ahead he saw a fire. For a moment he thought it would be a lava lake, but there were blocks all over the place, some of sorts that couldn’t generate naturally. That could be someone’s home. Or possibly even former home. If it were the first, then Mumbo hoped it would be someone to ally with, if it were the latter, the land being abandoned could do well as a shelter.

Mumbo continued forward until finally he reached a place that seemed to be a crater. There had been some sort of explosion, destroying the place. While it made Mumbo sad to see what was likely a very nice build destroyed, it also gave him hope that it would be safe now. That was until he heard someone speaking.

“Stupid stupid stupid. Now I’m stuck here and have to rebuild and-”

Mumbo knew that voice. “Tommy!” He ran towards the blond.

“What the fuck?” He heard Tommy say before he slid down into the crater and stood next to the boy.

“Tommy, that Dream guy, he got Grian and-” Mumbo started to explain before freezing.

“Grian?” Tommy asked, staring at Mumbo with magenta eyes.

“T-Tommy?” Mumbo drew his sword. Was this some copy? A trap? What?

“Yeah, what the fuck do you want?”

“I… What’s going on? Who are you really?”

  
“Oi, I’m gonna ask the fucking questions.” Tommy crossed his arms. “Who are  _ you _ and what are you doing in Logstedshire?”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mumbo may be a spoon, but he's trying to do things right to help Tommy.

When Grian called Mumbo over to his old hobbit hole, Mumbo didn’t know what to expect. Maybe he wanted to change the rail system or needed help with his villagers. Mumbo didn’t expect the mystery member to be there. “Is this Tommy?”

Grian nodded. “He’s been staying here. He said I could bring you to meet him.”

Mumbo didn’t think the expression Tommy wore really agreed with the statement Grian made. The boy looked like the moment there was an unexpected noise, he would bolt. The sword in his hand made it also seem like a fight would happen. But it wasn’t even an iron sword. It was merely stone. “Um, hello there. My name is Mumbo. Of course you’re Tommy.” In nervousness, Mumbo went to straighten his tie, but Tommy just shifted his position, looking ready to strike.

Mumbo wanted to ask why Grian hadn’t offered any clothes, but he was sure the builder would have. Still, Mumbo couldn’t wrap his head around why this boy would continue to wear rags. There were tears all over his shirt and pants and he only wore one shoe. Deep bags were under dull blue eyes that looked at Mumbo warrily.

Mumbo tried once more to speak to Tommy, but it managed to spook him and he bolted. The redstoner was left feeling downtrodden, but Grian comforted him. “Hey, you met him at the very least, and he lasted longer around you than when I first found him.” That got a small smile from Mumbo as he was cheered up, even if it was just a little.

  
  


Mumbo was reminded of the first time he saw Tommy when looking at him now. Same torn clothes. Same missing shoe. Same defensive stance. Even the bags under his eyes seemed the same, but the eyes themselves did not.

“Tommy.”

“Oh yeah, add that on the list. How the fuck do you know my name?”

Mumbo cringed. He forgot Tommy had been this crude in the past. He held up his hands in surrender. “My name is Mumbo. I sort of just wandered over here. There was a portal, but it got broken.”

“What, you get banned from the nether too?”

“What? No! Tommy, did you?”

“Still haven’t answered how you know my name.”

Mumbo couldn’t just say ‘oh we’ve been friends for a while, you’ve just got amnesia.’ or ‘oh I think I’m from the future’ or something. But there was one thing that was true. He learned Tommy’s name from Grian. “One of your brothers told me.”

Tommy scoffed. “Ghostbur. Where’s he been all this time?”

“I’m not entirely sure.” He wasn’t. He hadn’t even known Wilbur as anything but alive so far.

“Dream said I’m not supposed to have anyone here. So you should be leaving.” 

Mumbo rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I’m not completely sure I’m in the best standing with Dream either. And you’re…” What had he said? Banished? Exiled a voice supplied. “Exiled, and I sort of am too. Makes sense we stay here together.”

Tommy stared at Mumbo with squinted eyes before he finally stopped holding his weapon up and Mumbo breathed out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding in.

“You could even have this place if you want. At this point I give up here. Might as well just run off where Dream can’t find me.”

“Do… do you mind if I come with?” Mumbo asked, Tommy glancing at him from the side.

“Fine, as long as you’re not planning to fuck everything up Mumbitch.”

Mumbo held his tongue. He’s never heard that before. But he supposed it made sense with the current situation. Tommy started walking and Mumbo followed behind. They walked, nearing a village on the edge of a dark oak forest. Tommy killed a pig and started to eat the raw mean, but Mumbo stopped him, handing him five golden carrots. He would have given more, but he wasn’t sure if the surplus would frighten Tommy or put him on edge. Even with the small amount, the blond looked suspicious before he finally took them to eat.

They then started collecting wheat and hay bales from the village before continuing on, reaching some snowy plains. The sun was starting to rise and then in the distance Mumbo could see a house. “Is that your place?” Mumbo asked, making Tommy shake his head.

“No, it’s my brother’s. Wilbur found it and told me where it is. I figure he’ll have gear we can use.”

Mumbo was glad Tommy had someone to rely on until they actually reached the house and Tommy started rifling through the chests, grabbing whatever he wanted. “Are you sure your brother is okay with this?” Mumbo asked and Tommy laughed.

“Oh definitely not. That’s why we’ll need to hide under the floorboards if we want more.”

Mumbo was left stunned while Tommy started to dig, making a small room under the house. It had barely enough room for the essentials and ended up only half decorated with yellow concrete. Mumbo cringed a little at a sign put up that read ‘no pussies allowed’. The final touch Tommy made was making a secondary, even smaller room where he placed a log and a bell. “Yeah! Prime log!” And he started hitting the bell.

Mumbo rushed to grab Tommy’s hand. Tommy tried to wrestle it back, but his days in exile had left him weakened. Mumbo looked up at the ceiling, expecting to hear something from above, but when he didn’t, the redstoner sighed and let Tommy go.

Mumbo wanted to work when Tommy was asleep, but he refused to in the now unfamiliar presence of the hermit. So instead Mumbo placed a few blocks between them and got to work. The only way in and out right now was from just digging holes. Sure, it could be effective, the simplest of simple secret entrances, but it could be better. 

When Tommy saw the new entrances Mumbo made, he was stunned by it. “So it can just open and close by itself?”

“Well no. You still need to break the block, but it cycles in a new block a few seconds afterward so you don’t need to waste time putting down a new block. Based on our limited space and not wanting to alter his interior too much, there wasn’t much I could do. I mean, it’s a far cry from Keralis’ base.”

“Who?” Tommy tilted his head.

“Uh, friend of mine. Made a home that was easy to hide in. Anyway, again due to limitations, there’s not an infinite amount of blocks in the rotation, but I doubt we would use them all up in one go, so once we’re down here, we can replace them.” Mumbo pointed to where that would be.”

“That’s pretty pog.”

  
  


Mumbo was drifting off to sleep when he heard Tommy talking to someone. He couldn’t quite hear the other end of the conversation, but by the tone of Tommy’s voice, it didn’t sound that bad. Until he then heard Tommy suddenly get quiet. Straining his ears, he could hear Tommy whisper shouting. “I have to go! Sorry, sorry! Bye bye bye bye bye! Tommy hole Tommy hole!”

Mumbo didn’t know what to do and ended up just frozen in place, listening. “Uh, ‘ow do?” Then quiet. “Hey take a picture! It’ll last longer! Ay!” That sounded like Tommy antagonizing whoever was there. There was another pause before Tommy spoke once more in a more calm and level tone. “You look ugly.”

“What are you doing in my house Tommy?” Immediately came the response. Mumbo recognized the gruff voice. That had been one of the people to visit Grian. One of his brothers. Oh why couldn’t he remember their name? He was greeted by voices telling him it was Techno before he pushed them away again.

“How are you?”

“What are you doing in my house Tommy?”

“How are you?”

“What are you doing in my house Tommy?!”

“You are a bitch! That’s the way to lightly put it.” A moment later there was the sound of fist meeting skin and Tommy was yelling, finally making Mumbo jump up. But right away it was sounding calm again. “You can’t kill me so stop trying to act so big and hard, alright?” 

“I actually really can kill you!”

“Well I have!” “You’re just taking my items!” Well I have!” “That’s not what you have, that’s what I have.” “Yeah bitch, I have fire!” “No wait my house is made out of wood!”

Mumbo got ready to go out there and fight, but before he could, Tommy was climbing down into the room. Above, he could hear Techno yelling about a zombie getting into his villagers. “Tommy, are you alright?” Mumbo asked in a hushed tone. 

He didn’t get a response as he immediately clamped a hand on Tommy’s mouth when digging started right above them. Don’t dig down, Mumbo thought. He hoped that Techno would test some blocks and then give up. “What the heck is this?” Too late.

After a moment of hesitation, Techno started coming down the ladder, but the redstone clock finished its timer and a block was pushed into the warrior, starting to suffocate him. “What the?! Tommy!”

Mumbo pulled Tommy behind him. He may not be the best fighter, but he wasn’t going to let Tommy get hurt. Another block was broken and then Techno came the rest of the way down into their room. “What the hell was that Tom-” Techno started to speak before he saw Mumbo. “Who are you?”

“Not important. Don’t you dare try hurting Tommy or you’ll regret it.” Mumbo tried to stand firm, not show any weakness, but he was failing horribly at it.

“What are you two doing in my house?” Techno half growled. He shifted his helmet and Mumbo froze. His eyes were the exact same color as Tommy’s were.

“Hey, this place right here is our house bitch!” Tommy said over Mumbo’s shoulder. “Besides, read the sign bruv, no pussies allowed!”

Techno paused, then pointed to Mumbo. “Then why is he in here?”

“Hey, no talking to my man Mumbo Jumboli like that.”

“Ugh, how long has this been down here?!”

“Well you see there was this guy called Dream and we’ve got this sort of love hate relationship, like Sam and Juliet from the hit show Friends and basically what happened, Technoblade, was uhhh I need my discs back.”

There was a beat of silence before the piglin hybrid spoke. “That was not a good summary at all! Why are you two living underneath my house like raccoons?!”

“Hey!” Mumbo exclaimed, offended by the statement. “I am not some raccoon. Secret bases means you’re just a sewer… related… mole perso- yes I will actually accept being called a racoon.”

Techno raised an eyebrow at Mumbo. “So, who are you? And why are you helping Tommy?”

Mumbo couldn’t easily look Techno in the eyes. “Well you see… I sort of ended up coming through a portal, which got broken. I’m a little stuck and I found Tommy and thought I could help him.”

“Help him get his discs back?”

“I have no idea what he means by that.” Mumbo answered honestly. That hadn’t been brought up while they were walking, so it must be something new. Nevermind, he was now being told it had been mentioned but he wasn’t paying attention like a spoon. 

“What, but I talked about it almost the whole way here!” Tommy interjected, making Mumbo nod.

“Yes, I was just told such. I just hadn’t been paying attention. Gathering resources seemed like the best option at the time.”

“And you used that to get redstone?” Techno asked, looking back up the ladder.

“Well no, I just had it on me.”

“You just had redstone materials on you for that?” Mumbo nodded in response to the question. “Why bother?”

“It’s what I had! Had I known I would get stuck, I may have brought less, but it’s still very useful.”

“Sure it- Hey Tommy, where’d you get that golden apple?!” Mumbo looked to where Techno’s eyes had fallen and saw Tommy eating a gold apple.

“Tommy! I told you you are not supposed to be eating that many!” 

“But I like the absorption hearts!”

“And that’s exactly why you aren’t supposed to have that many. You’ll get too used to the extra health.”

“Tommy, give me the apples.” Mumbo held out a hand and was surprised how easily they were given to him.

“And those are my apples.” Techno then spoke, grabbing the apples out of Mumbo’s hand.

“Here, Techno. Tommy was put in a bad situation. He came to you as his brother because he sees you as something safe. Or at least safer than what he just left. I wouldn’t be letting him have any of your apples, but he really needs the health benefits and potions are more tedious to keep supplied. I promise we won’t be much of a bother as long as you let us stay.”

Surprisingly, though it was after some hesitation, Techno agreed.

  
  


Tommy was chatting to Techno through his communicator when they got warning of Dream coming to visit. Tommy started to panic as Mumbo attempted to calm him down. When Techno walked in, a potion of invisibility was splashed at their feet by Tommy, hitting all of them. Techno fortunately was able to get some milk from the cow in his basement, but the enderman living in his house couldn’t do the same, leaving just the floating block it held.

Techno helped Tommy into a box to hide while Mumbo placed an armor stand down and stood just behind it. It wasn’t the best hiding place, but hopefully it would do well enough, especially after some junk gear was placed on it by Techno.

Mumbo held his breath when Dream noticed particles left by the magic energy of the potion as he stood next to the box, but Techno was able to play it off, mentioning the Stray outside and how one had hit Dream with an arrow. The masked man seemed to buy it as he continued to look around.

“Alright, well there’s a bit of a problem. Tommy left.”

“Tommy?” Mumbo had to hold his hand down so he wouldn’t slap himself at Techno’s question. “Oh right, Tommy. Yeah that guy. He got exiled. That was pretty funny.”

Dream asked to look around again and started checking the different floors. It was perfect timing as well as the splash potion ran out and Mumbo quickly had to supply him and Tommy with another. They started to read a list that Mumbo had heard before and he went down to peek at what was going on, only to see signs on a wall of Tommy’s to-do list. Fortunately nothing directly said Tommy’s name on it, but it likely did read like his writing. 

Mumbo heard Tommy start to eat from above, his eyes widening at the fact that he would do something so reckless. He rushed up and stole the food from Tommy and placed it in the boat with the enderman. Dream and Techno arrived only a second later and Dream made a comment about not knowing endermen ate, to which Techno replied with something about someone named Ranboo.

Techno was able to distract Dream with one last thing, ringing a bell above them to the point that Mumbo’s head was left ringing. But then the masked man left. Mumbo watched through a window as Dream glanced at one thing that couldn’t be hidden. A tower nearby that reached up into the sky. It was made of cobble and stone bricks and andesite. It had a lovely spiral staircase so someone could get up to the top and a few wood accents.

Dream stared at it. Had Techno built this? If so why? It might have been Tommy, but that wasn’t his style. Did anyone else know where Techno was and could build something like that? He couldn’t think of anyone. Dream tried not to feel perplexed as he left.

Mumbo also looked at the tower. It was all too obvious who had built it. That was Tommy’s style. Too much cobble with just enough accents to make it look good. Dream likely knew and might come back.

“You two are still invisible. I expected it to wear off by now.”

“I used another while you kept Dream busy. Made sure it didn’t hit your pe- er, roommate.”

“Well, hopefully that was enough to convince him Tommy’s not here.”

“Are you kidding? It’s blatantly obvious. Look at the tower out there.” Mumbo gestured, forgetting he couldn’t be seen, then putting his armor on to make it a little more obvious.

“That thing? That’s probably what’s keeping Tommy safe the most. Doesn’t look like anything he’s made other than the height.”

“What?” Mumbo asked, sounded half exasperated by the claim. “No that’s just how he builds!”

“Do you think I built Logstedshire? That was almost all Wilbur.”

“I wasn’t talking about that! I was talking about-” Then Mumbo remembered. Remembered that they didn’t.

“Talking about what?”

Mumbo wasn’t sure how to tell then, so in a moment of spoonly panic, he blurted out five words. “I’m dating your blood god.”

All was silent for about ten full seconds before Mumbo was being pressed against the wall. “What the hell would you know about the Blood God?”

Mumbo tried to speak, but it was hard as most of the pressure keeping him against the wall was near his throat. “N-name w’s Zlquh… p-parit ‘vian. Tr-triplit.” He gasped for air as he was dropped.

“Where’s Xelqua?”

Though he was still gasping for air, Mumbo managed to answer. “D-Dream has him…”

  
  


Zloy looked up as Gxrgeous and Pixlriffs walked in. “I’m hoping you’ve got good news?”

“Far from it actually.” Pixlriffs spoke before Gxrgeous started yelling.

“I can’t see a fucking thing. It has to be fucking vault gods. That world is filled with people they could feed off of.”

Zloy sighed. “Gxrgeous, first of all, they have told us many times that it is not considered ‘feeding’. They’re just people who have an energy that they can interact with better. Second, is that really all there is?”

“Er, no.” Pixlriffs spoke up. “Just before she lost her ability to view in, she saw Grian and Mumbo end up going through the portal and it broke on our side of things.”

That made Zloy look up from the work he was doing. “That really is bad news. Gather as many watchers as you can to try and fix things with Gxrgeous’ world. The sooner we figure out what’s going on, the better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ I love reading the comments you guys give.  ](https://64.media.tumblr.com/f8de35dd9f3b8b29c09455e6c0ebd3ee/0f01d43511838e5d-9f/s1280x1920/f71fc0760631bc79edc39bb3695019b3b9cc9620.jpg)


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to look for Grian, but no one but Dream really knows where he is.

Mumbo wasn’t sure what the look on the two smp member’s faces were concerning. “Does… does he have a base with plenty of defenses? If so, I’m sure there’s got to be a weak point that he-”

“Dream doesn’t really have a base. He’s essentially homeless.” Techno answered Mumbo. “The best chance we have is possibly tracking Dream and tailing him for a while, but that likely won’t work. There’s a chance that he may be at the vault, but construction there only recently finished, and that’s only the exterior as far as I know.”

“Then we’ll have to try there.” Mumbo replied. “If he isn’t then we’ll keep looking.”

Techno rolled his eyes. “Look, I want to see my brother again as much as I’m sure you do, but that’s going to take some preparation. That place is supposed to be unbreakable.”

“I’ve got a book from Impulse. I can get through bedrock if I need to. I’m going to do anything to get Grian back.”

“Who?” Techno tilted his head.

“Right, yes. I’m such a spoon. He’s going by the name Grian now. Has for a long time.”

Sapnap treaded carefully, not knowing why Dream wanted to meet with him. He wasn’t sure why the admin gave coordinates so far out until his eyes spotted what seemed to be a building in the distance. He was wondering if this was someone’s base that they didn’t know about until now until he could see Dream there and working on building it. “What the fuck is this Dream?”

Dream looked over and spoke with a smile in his voice. “My evil lair. Out here where no one is likely to find it.”

“Never thought you’d try making a place for yourself.” He heard a noise that left him confused. “Do I hear parrots?” Dream nodded and then led him into the building. There were a few rooms they passed through first before getting to the largest of them that was filled with parrots. “Why the fuck do you have twelve parrots Dream?”

“Easier to lose one out of twelve than one out of one.” He then put down a jukebox and played a disc of cat. “And I can do that.”

Sapnap just watched, wondering if this was really why he had been asked here. “Alright. And did you just want to show me your new pets?”

Dream turned to look at his guest, trying to hide any disappointment in his voice as he stared at the magenta eyes that replaced the formerly black ones. “I actually have a proposition for you.”

After a small bit of nether travel which Tommy and Techno were reluctant on, Tommy since he was banned and Techno feeling they were unprepared, the trio reached the vault. Tommy contacted Sam at Mumbo’s insistence of learning information. He seemed to be taking a break at the time, so it worked well and the brothers talked with him, Mumbo staying off to the side.

So, I’m wanna go murder that green bastard. Yeah, let’s go commit some acts of violence! Anyone else concerned that all three of these guys have the exact same eye color? Dream please leave the vicinity of the family.; You cause problems. Blow up the vault!; Free Grian!!!!

Mumbo excused himself for a second and moved to somewhere nearby but private. “Alright, you have all been slightly helpful, but I really need you all to go away. I don’t need these people wondering why I’m not paying attention because I can hear hundreds of different people at once. You also aren’t supposed to be here in the first place anymore. Grian made that clear to me when we first got rid of you. Right now if you are planning to stay, I really need you to not be sending be violent messages and instead just help me figure out where Grian is.”

“What’s going on over here Jumboli?” Tommy spoke up, making Mumbo jump.

“Ah! Er, I’m just talking to myself. Building confidence and all that.” He tried to hide what was going on.

“Really? Cause it sounded like you were actually talking to someone else.”

Mumbo wasn’t sure how to deflect any more than he already had. “Nope, really I was. I mean, I was talking to myself. I don’t mean I was talking to someone else.”

Tommy nodded, but Mumbo wasn’t sure he bought it. “Well, Sam says Dream hasn’t visited recently, but the place is actually complete. They actually are weeks ahead schedule which, they’re not quite sure how they got that far ahead.”

Mumbo had an idea of why that might be based on how Tommy and Techno were acting. “Can we still look around? Just to be safe?”

Tommy shrugged. “I can ask.”

Sam let them into the building and Mumbo couldn’t help but gawk at everything. It was built so well and filled with amazing redstone. He’d never dream of making something like this back on Hermitcraft. It wasn’t needed. But it still really was impressive. He would need to come back once everything was fixed and take notes.

Multiple times Techno had to drag the hermit back as he started wandering off to check things in depth. He was so focused he didn’t realize the number of people trying to get him to check on Tommy until just a little too late.

“Tommy! There you are! I couldn’t find you in Logstedshire.” Mumbo heard the voice of Dream and he tried to enter the room to see what was going on, only to find a barrier in his way and mining fatigue keeping him from breaking through it.

“You came looking for me? I thought you weren’t coming back.”

“Tommy, I’m your friend. I wouldn’t just leave you back there forever. I guess I should have been more clear.” Mumbo moved enough that he could see the masked man facing Tommy. “That being said, you running away isn’t a good sign. And something tells me that gear isn’t something you got yourself. You were banned from the nether after all.”

Even though Tommy held a weapon, Mumbo could see Tommy’s hand trembling.

“You’re going to need to get rid of it before we go back.” Mumbo wasn’t sure how Dream could dig a hole with the mining fatigue. “Tools in the pit Tommy.” Mumbo watched in horror as Tommy got rid of all his items without hesitation. “I’m surprised Tommy.” Dream spoke again after a few unnaturally silent seconds after Tommy had given up everything. “You leave exile and break the other rules I gave you yet you were so quick to listen. Maybe things are finally getting through your head.”

TNT was placed and then lit, the explosion destroying Tommy’s items. Again, they just stood quietly before Dream left once more. Then the barrier fell and Mumbo was able to run to Tommy.

“Tommy, are you okay?” Mumbo placed a hand on Tommy’s shoulder. Techno walked up behind him, just lookin in the direction Dream had left.

Tommy turned to look at Techno and Mumbo, but his attention was drawn to his brother. “Techno, what the fuck is with your eyes?” Techno looked down, his magenta eyes meeting Tommy’s which had returned to their familiar blue.

“Ok thank goodness I’m not going completely crazy.” Mumbo sighed. “So far everyone’s eyes have been like that, and I didn’t think that was normal but no one was reacting to it.”

“The fuck are you talking about? They’ve been fine until right now.”

Mumbo shook his head. “No. They’ve been that way since I first saw you and you had them.”

Tommy wanted to argue, but before he did, he grabbed Mumbo’s hand and used his sword as a mirror. “They look fine now.”

“Well they are back to normal now, but until now they weren’t.”

“You’re telling me everyone except you and Tommy have the same eye color?” Techno asked, sounding skeptical.

“I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. I think this is even more of a reason to find Grian because this might be due to him.”

“How?” The piglin hybrid asked, making Mumbo rub the back of his head sheepishly.

“Well, I sort of left this part out, but Grian is also a Watcher.”

“A what?” Tommy asked, not knowing what that meant while Techno seemed to.

“We need to find Philza.”

Mumbo kept Tommy close to him as they walked into New L’Manburg. He followed Techno along as he brought them to a house that looked like it had broken into then boarded up. After seeing and hearing about the rest of the server, Mumbo wasn’t surprised, but Techno seemed to have not expected it as he started acting more cautious.

The hybrid broke the planks covering the door and stepped inside. “Phil? You in here?”

“Techno?” The voice of Philza spoke up, communicator in hand as he stepped into view. “I was just about to message you. They found the compass?”

“Who?”

“Quackity just showed up with Tubbo Fundy and Ranboo. They were asking about information on where you were then went through my chests until they found it.”

“Tubbo was here?” Tommy spoke up, making Philza look over at him.

“Yes, and he put me under house arrest.” The avian pointed to his boots. “I would have messaged you sooner, but we found something concerning.”

“We?”

“Hi!” Ghostbur came up through the floor with a wave. “There’s a basement that opens up to the void.”

“There’s no bedrock down there?” Tommy asked, but then Mumbo cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.

“Look, I’m sure you all want to catch up seeing as how you’re family and all, but we really should wait until everyone is here for a family reunion.”

Philza shook his head. “I would prefer not to see Fundy again that soon.”

Mumbo looked confused for a moment before he remembered. “Oh right, he’s your grandson, isn’t he. No I was referring to Grian.”

The hardcore player didn’t recognize the name? “Grian?”

“He’s Xelqua.” Mumbo said exasperated, upset at himself for forgetting to give that detail once again. But it didn’t last long as he and the other two he arrived with looked at the one who had echoed his words.

Ghostbur looked between his family and Mumbo, wondering why they were staring. “Oh, did you guys not remember and I did? That’s a little out of character for me.”

“Are you telling me you remember Grian?” Mumbo asked, suddenly feeling hopeful.

“Yeah, he had a very nice mansion and gave me a blue feather.”

“He has a what?” Philza started to ask, but Mumbo signaled for him to be quiet.

“Alright, I suppose now is the best time to go over everything. I’m from a world Called Hermitcraft. Grian, or as you better know him as, Xelqua, lives there as well. Iskall too if Fundy mentioned him to you. One day out of the blue, Tommy showed up and ended up living with us for a few years even though it was just a few months for everyone here. Your admin Dream showed up to attack us and get Tommy back and while it didn’t work, for whatever reason everything went sideways and now everyone is back here, Grian and I included, no one can seem to remember anything, and Dream likely has Grian trapped!”

The others stared at Mumbo with a range of emotions from looking like he was crazy, to unsure, and to enthusiastic, though that last one was mainly Ghostbur.

“Now, you lot have a better understanding on how things go around here while I have a fair amount of resources. I’m sure if any of you have ideas of what to do, we can find some way to do it.”

“He does redstone stuff, so he may be the best we can do without Sam.”

“What?” Mumbo seemed offended. “You didn’t say that when I showed off my walking house.”

“You made a what?”

When the green man walked back into the room, Grian was very happy to see him holding seeds. He chirped, hoping they would be brought to him. But instead they were taken to another parrot. Why did the green man need so many parrots? Wasn’t he enough? Oh, but here he came and he had more seeds in his hand. They were even pumpkin seeds! His favorite!

But when he ate them, they seemed lacking. Maybe a little salt would be nice. And roasted too. That’s how Mumbo always made them. Who was that, a voice asked him. You’ve never heard of a Mumbo before, have you? Grian paused. That’s right. He didn’t know a Mumbo. The only one who gave him seeds was the green man. The green man asked him to do stuff and he would get seeds. He was a good parrot. With his mansion and barge and… wait what were those? He just had his little perch and cage.

Then he was given more seeds. The green man was happy about something. About someone named Tommy. Was that one of those other parrots? But then why was Grian getting seeds instead? Oh, maybe the green man wanted to call him Tommy? It wasn’t his favorite name, but it would do. Music started playing and he started to dance to it. It was so nice here. He couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be.

Grian had no clue where he was. It wasn’t Hermitcraft or the realm of the Watchers or any place he’d been before. Well, it was sort of familiar. It looked like he was in the middle of an infinity room. “Hello? Mumbo? Tommy? Xisuma? Anyone?” He called out, looking around. He tried to reach out for a wall but was too far away. He tried moving around but couldn’t seem to get any traction as he moved his feet. “Is anyone around? I think I’m a little stuck here. Did we fix everything?”

The question suddenly gave Grian an idea of what might be going on. “Did you lot put me in an infinity room to calm me down? Because I think I’m fine now. Can you tell me where the way out is?” There was still nothing. “Guys? Hello?”

Grian realized he had his wings shifted away and attempted to bring them back to test the ceiling, but they didn’t appear. “Um, guys? I’d really appreciate some sort of message or something. I’m beginning to panic a little.” He tried to reach for his communicator, but it was also missing.

“I know you probably just calmed me down from overloading my Watcher powers, but I really don’t like being stuck here, so I’ll wait until the count of three.” He counted down but there was still nothing. “Alright, hopefully this doesn’t take much.” Grian tried to reach inside himself for the suppressed energy but found it missing. And that’s when it finally dawned on him. “Oh… is this what death is?”


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rescue missions can be a little hard to plan when you don't have much information and are in an unfamiliar world.

Mumbo offered to help take off Philza’s house arrest boots, but they found that they were actually quite easy to remove. Since it was the furthest away, they decided going to Techno’s base would be the best to stay out, though there were some complications due to rain and Wilbur not doing well together.

While Mumbo would have loved input from Techno, the piglin hybrid was only around for brief periods of time, trying to mess with the compass that signalled his direction. Still, the hardcore player had good insight into more combat related plans.

Eyes widened when Mumbo placed down the shulker box that held his redstone tools. To try and keep Tommy from taking it, he had to give one of his shulkers that just had wood in it to the young blond. When Tommy tried to hide it in his ender chest, he actually jumped back in surprise. “What the fuck?! Where’d all these diamonds and emeralds come from?! And I’ve got more?!” He pulled out a shulker box from the chest.

“Oh good, you’ve still got all your items from Hermitcraft. That’ll hopefully make things much easier.” Mumbo took his log box back from Tommy now that he had his own. “I’m not sure what all you have, but I’m sure anything will be helpful right now.”

“What the fuck! I have a block of netherite in here?!”

  
  


Grian decided he was not actually dead. At least he was pretty sure that wasn’t the case. He had been here for a while and learned a few things. While there was some sort of ground, he could pick up both his legs without falling and just sort of floated there. Waving his arms and legs didn’t seem to help him move. Or maybe it did, he wasn’t sure since everything looked the same. And after trying to do that for quite a while, Grian felt tired.

Feeling tired assured Grian, and he was fairly certain that being dead meant you couldn’t get tired. He couldn’t be sure though. It hadn’t come up in his questions for Wilbur when he was catching up with his family. He was also worried about getting hungry too, but at least that didn’t seem to be a concern.

Grian was trying to think of things to distract himself with. He had already tried just about every idea he came up with for trying to get out with no luck. He had tested gravity a little too much and felt like throwing up when he had tried doing a flip in the air, only for gravity to shift with him instead of staying stationary. Fortunately he could also sit instead of just stand or float.

He had tried checking if he had any items on his person, but other than his clothes, Grian had nothing. That was a shame as his next idea was to try building something so he had something to focus on other than his hands or legs. Staring into the vast white void had become old, quick and disorienting.

So, being unable to do much else, Grian simply closed his eyes and started to imagine a build. He started to mentally work on a nice little cottage, a nearby pen to fill with chickens. Perfect to collect eggs to throw at his friends. Then he started imagining what he could add onto his mansion. Maybe with his family in the picture again, he could add in rooms for each of them. He had already thought of adding a place for Tommy.

When he hopefully saw them next, he would need to ask what they all wanted. It seemed Wilbur’s favorite color was still blue, so a room with blue accents would do well for him. Techno likely wouldn’t have stopped loving yellow and gold seeing as he was a piglin hybrid and all that. But in checking in on his family, he had made a nice wood house, so possibly it could be a much more standard room.

Tommy’s room would likely take after his tower. He had been so proud when he had started building it and the other Hermits voiced their approval. Grian chuckled. He asked how tall it was going to be and Tommy put his hands on his hips and said-

“All the way up to build height! I’ll make sure I can barely see the ground below. I can get all the way to the top and jump off to fly wherever I want without a rocket or anything!”

Grian’s eyes shot open at Tommy’s voice and found the white expanse replaced with a familiar scene. He was back in hermitcraft and standing next to Tommy and himself.

“You sure? It might be cool, but would take a long time to put it all together. I mean, how long did it take to build these floors?”

“Uh…” Tommy rubbed the back of his head. “Okay maybe I won’t go all the way to build height.”

Grian tried walking and found he actually moved around. “Is this… what is this?” He wasn’t quite sure. “I mean, at least it’s better than literally nothing.” He sat down and just watched the scene play out, it going just how he remembered.

  
  


Techno came back to the cabin to rest. He had been all over the place and had even pushed himself a little more just to get back, so the first thing he did was crash onto his bed to rest. Philza stopped helping Mumbo to keep watch, but if Mumbo was completely honest, he wouldn’t mind more people showing up if they could help them as well.

Ghostbur had wandered off to who knows where and Tommy was messing with the items he had found in his ender chest, leaving Mumbo working on his own. Without much of an idea on where to look for Grian, currently the idea was to work on prepping. Potions of invisibility and full netherite gear would be good, so the nether was going to be a must. 

Since grinding for TNT was a bit harder with a lack of farms and shops, beds were crafted and slowly filled up chests. Using the room Tommy had dug out beneath the house, Mumbo created a bit of a bunker to put all their prepared gear. He tried not to think of the time he had to help Grian coax a terrified looking Tommy out of one he had created.

Shouts suddenly came from outside and Mumbo quickly left the bunker through the outside exit. He saw Philza confronted by four people, two of which Mumbo recognized, though their attire was different.

“You’re supposed to be under house arrest! You can’t just defy the president like that!”

“Well you didn’t really do much to keep me in there.”

“We’ll make sure that you can’t take the boots off this time.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“Please can you listen? You’re my grandpa!”

“And Techno is my son.”

Mumbo walked over, not as cautious with none of the visitors currently wearing armor. “Excuse me, may I ask why you’re here?”

The four people turned to face Mumbo. He frowned at the face that they too also sported magenta eyes. “Who are you?” One of them in a suit that resembled Mumbo’s own spoke.

“Um, the name is Mumbo. I’m a friend of Iskall. I believe at least one of you knows him.” He frowned as none of them, not even Fundy seemed to recognize the name. It seemed it was worse than he thought. “Oh dear, well, I’m sure you have a very good reason for being here, but you really shouldn’t.”

“Are you trying to defend Techno?” One of them spoke. Mumbo didn’t know who they were either. “He destroyed L’Manburg and needs to pay for that.”

The door to the cabin slammed open. “We’ve got more important stuff to do than that!” Tommy shouted and Tubbo was the first to look over.

“T-Tommy?”

“Hey Big T.”

It took a bit of explaining, but the butchers, as they were calling themselves, agreed to help out, mainly at Tommy’s pleading. Mumbo explained more of his plan, which Tommy seemed grateful for. Tubbo kept trying to get their friend’s attention, But Tommy couldn’t look back, refusing to meet their eyes. 

Neither he nor Mumbo knew why everyone’s eyes were like that. Mumbo had assumed that was why no one could remember anything, but if that were the case, then why could Tommy still not recall any of the past few years now that whatever magic - at least, the assumption was the color was due to magic - was gone.

Tubbo seemed to think that Tommy was still upset about the exile even though the blond kept insisting that wasn’t it. So Mumbo tried to reassure Tubbo. “Hey, he’s dealing with the fact that he was living with someone you were coming to attack and that’s why he’s seeing you again, along with knowing he’s lost many memories and learning he’s got a brother trapped by Dream. It’s perfectly fine that he’s feeling a bit put off right now.”

Tubbo reluctantly agreed, Which Mumbo was glad for, allowing them to continue working on their plan. And then that was when Ghostbur walked in.

“Hey Techno. I didn’t know you had any neighbors. Do you think they’ll help?”

Techno, who was still trying to rest a bit, sat up. “What do you mean neighbors?”

“Well there’s a place nearby. Oh, but there’s a sign on it saying no trespassers, especially you, so maybe we can’t talk to them.”

“Wilbur, do you think you could go back there and look around, telling us what you see?” Philza asked his ghost son, who was happy to help as he left again.

  
  


Grian had decided he would much rather be dead. This place showed him memories of whatever he started to think of. It had been fine at first, but then one thing led him into a spiral of bad memories. Even though it wasn’t real, right now he was hiding along with his memory copy, trying to hold his breath and not cry too loudly to let Yuki know where he was. The suit his copy was wearing was full of cuts from the girl’s knife and even though he didn’t have any of the injuries, he could remember the pain.

He tried hard to think of something different, something better. He looked around hoping something would give him an idea, but it just made him worry that Yuki could be there. He looked down at his shaking hands and saw the band of metal on them and finally, a new memory, a better one, crossed his mind.

Instead of hiding from a crazed girl, now he was in his mansion, Jrumbot following him around. 

“Please! Please dad I won’t even sell it to you! Just let me show you!”

The memory Grian sighed and looked at his son. “Oh all right. What do you have?”

“Well, Uncle Iskall was telling me some things and made some joke which left me confused, and that’s because you and daddy are my dads.”

“That we are.”

“And apparently dads are supposed to get married?”

“Well, we don’t have to get married. There are some worlds that do that, and your daddy and I do like each other a lot. But we have you, we don’t need to get married.”

“But, well, Iskall told me that people who love each other a lot and get married have rings to show other people that they love each other that much and I want to make sure everyone knows that you’re my dads.”

Grian smiled as the memory Jrumbot gave his memory version a little ring made out of a gold nugget. It was a bit rough, but gold was pliable enough and Jrumbot was a strong robot, so it was okay.

“Alright, well if you made it, I can wear it for you. That means that it doesn’t just show how much I love your daddy, but how much I love you and Grumbot too.”

Grian smiled once more and looked at his own ring. He happily shined it against his sweater before admiring it. It reflected his face back to him and- Grian froze. Magenta eyes looked back up at him instead of his hazel ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Colors Colors Colors. What could they mean?


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rescue mission for Grian seems easy. Almost a bit too easy.

When Ghostbur returned once more and mentioned he found parrots in the place, Mumbo started getting things ready. Parrots meant Grian, so they needed to move now, before they lost him again. He packed up shulker boxes and everyone got geared up. 

As they got closer to the building, at Tommy’s insistence, Mumbo created a flying machine for the blond to ride in as an ‘intimidation tactic’. He wasn’t sure why the boy held his arms out as it started to fly off, but Mumbo did feel a little intimidated.

Since the machine was slower, the rest of them waited a little bit to advance, making sure to take a more stealthy route since attention should be drawn to Tommy. They always made sure Tommy was about a chunk ahead of them. Not too far they couldn’t easily get there if he was attacked, but far back enough the magic from their potions could be seen.

  
  


Dream lifted his head up in confusion at what sounded like the noise of pistons. They were distant, but sounded like they were getting closer. It reminded him of when Ranboo had come to visit him in the vault.

He looked out the door, but couldn’t see anything, until he looked up. In the air was some monstrosity made of pistons, observers and slime blocks. And on top, sitting in a boat, was Tommy, who was currently t-posing. “What the-?”

“Hey there green bitch!” Tommy shouted down as a way to inform his currently invisible friends. “You visited me so time to return the favor.” Both of them just stared at each other after that, the flying machine being a little slow. “Uh, that didn’t go quite as well as I imagined.”

Dream rolled his eyes. At the very least this was something new and it looked like there were still some things he needed to teach Tommy. If he could just finally get the blond to follow orders, everything would work out great and- a sword appeared out of nowhere and slashed at Dream. He was confused for a moment before he saw the particles that signaled an invisibility potion.

Tommy jumped down from the machine, unsure how to stop it as it continued to fly off. He joined whichever of his friends was attacking Dream, turning it into a two on one, possibly more but even Tommy wasn’t sure how many invisible people were fighting the admin.

  
  


Mumbo slipped into the house with two others while Dream was busy fighting. He didn’t quite know how easily he could be heard from outside, so he started whisper yelling. “Grian! Grian?! Are you here?!”

Someone tried to shush him. Mumbo was pretty sure it sounded like Philza. “Sorry that I’m worried about him! But calling for him might actually help!” Mumbo gave another stage whisper.

“Hey, are we whispering so the parrots don’t hear us?” Ghostbur asked, coming through a wall and surprising Mumbo.

“Where are they Ghostbur?” Philza asked and the ghost pointed.

Mumbo walked in that direction and was met with a spruce door. He opened it up and there he was. “Grian!” The redstoner ran over and opened the cage, carefully pulling him out. “Grian are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Behind him, Philza and Ghostbur came in. Grian chirped happily and Mumbo fished out some pumpkin seeds which were quickly gobbled up. “Are you sure that’s him?” Philza spoke up, and Mumbo looked over at the other avian.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Philza gestured to the room around them and this time Mumbo noticed all the other parrots that looked nearly identical to the one he was holding. As he stared, the parrot pecked his hand and Mumbo loosened his grip. “Sorry about that.”

Philza walked closer to Mumbo and inspected the parrot. “What told you it was him? Is there some pattern you’ve gotten used to or…?”

Mumbo shook his head. “No. He didn’t even know he could completely change into a bird until around a week ago when you told him.”

“Then how did you know it was Grian?” Ghostbur asked, looking at all the other parrots, finding a liking to one with a larger amount of blue feathers which he tried to give what looked like blue dye.

“I… I just knew.” Mumbo answered. He wasn’t sure how he knew it was Grian, but to him, it was obvious. “Now, can you help him change back to normal? I’m not sure he knows how.”

“It should be easy.” Philza answered. “Changing back is much easier since it’s your natural form. But essentially it draws on the same properties as shifting your wings away.”

Grian just tilted his head, then ruffled his feathers and pecked at Philza when he tried to get closer. “Grian, please. He’s just trying to help.” Mumbo tried to calm the parrot, which seemed to work and the bird moved to perch itself on Mumbo’s shoulder. “Alright, let’s get out while we still can.”

With their invisibility potions worn out, Mumbo and Philza put on armor and started to leave the building. They were surprised to find that Dream was nowhere in sight. But that would hopefully make things easier. “Alright, let’s hurry back before anything tries to stop us!” Mumbo started running off, hoping everyone else would follow, which they did.

After they reached a midway point to rest as well as create a small shelter as it started to snow, Grian started chirping. Mumbo assumed that was him asking for words to mimic, but then Quackity grabbed Grian and pulled out a sword.

“What are you doing?! Are you mental?!” Mumbo quickly pulled Grian back, not caring about being pecked.

“What? It’s Dream’s pet. It would help send a message.”

“He’s not Dream’s pet! Did you not hear a word of the plan from earlier?!”

“Quackity, even if they belong to Dream, you shouldn’t kill it.”

Mumbo held Grian just a little closer. He caught Tommy’s confused look before the blond spoke. “Tubbo, him I can understand not listening, but you? He’s not a pet, he’s my brother.”

“Your brother’s a parrot?”

Mumbo grabbed Tommy and pulled him back. “Raise your hand if you think this parrot is Dream’s pet.” Mumbo wasn’t surprised when everyone but him, Tommy and Ghostbur raised their hands or had some other signal of affirmation. “Tommy, I think I know why their eyes are like that now.”

“Well fuck.”

“Please, calm down. He’s uh… not Dream’s pet. He’s mine and just… stole him? I mean, I couldn’t put him on my shoulder if he wasn’t my pet, right?” Mumbo hoped the reasoning would get through to them, and he was glad when it did.

It happened again a few more times, but Mumbo was glad to note that Grian seemed to be able to sense it and gave some chirps as a warning.

  
  


Dream became more frustrated as time went on. At this point Tubbo should have come back to return the parrot. Everything else had been going right so far other than the Watcher magic on Tommy making him a little too open to suggestion. Perhaps that was the problem. Tommy was holding everyone up. 

Well, suggestions were much easier to do from afar, so possibly calling in Sapnap for that favor would do. But he was a bit trigger happy when it came to killing pets. And likely no one else would be nearby.

Dream sighed and grabbed his gear. If you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself.

The moment the snow stopped, Mumbo had them on the move again. But it had still taken a while and Dream easily caught up. With so many people, it was hard to see just who held the Watcher. “You have something that doesn’t belong to you Tommy.”

“Doesn’t belong to you either green bitch!” Tommy shouted. He looked like he wanted to attack Dream, but Mumbo held him back. He also had to keep a hand on Grian as he started chirping and almost flew off.

“That so? Seems like it has a better idea. How about you shut up for once?”

Mumbo watched in horror as the magenta color filled Tommy’s eyes again and he found he couldn’t speak. “Tommy! No, snap out of it!”

He didn’t see as Dream tilted his head at the unfamiliar voice. The redstoner was just glad that Tommy was able to shake his head and go back to normal. “What the fuck was that?!”

Dream asked his own question. “Who’s your new friend Tommy?”

Tommy just cursed at Dream, not giving an answer. So Dream asked one of the others, who gave up Mumbo’s name. “Hmm, Mumbo Jumbo.” Dream said, toying with the name as he said it. “Well then, seeing as how that changes things, better let things calm down for the family reunion going on.”

“Wouldn’t have needed it if you didn’t end up kidnapping my brother!” Tommy yelled back angrily.

“Right, that family reunion counts too.” Dream’s comment confused Mumbo and Tommy. The latter of the two pulled out an axe as Dream walked forward. “Hey, calm down. I’m not going to try anything if he won’t. Besides, I’ve been waiting for someone to show up.” Dream took another step closer and then held out his hand. “So Mumbo, the name’s Dreamon.”

Mumbo stared at the outstretched hand then up at the mask. Grian chirped on his shoulder and that reminded him of what this person had done, so he refused the hand. “Fine, I guess Drista really is the only one that’s willing to hang around me if time has told me anything.”

Mumbo’s eyes suddenly widened. “Are you telling me you know Drista?”

Even with the mask in the way, Mumbo could see how much Dream smiled. “Of course, why wouldn’t I know our sister.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> probably going to take a break after this. not because of burnout or anything, i just really have other stuff i need to work on. If I post more soon, yell at me.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was before Tommy showed up that Mumbo first met his 'sister' Drista. He didn't think that little detail would ever come up again.

“Mumbooooo.” Grian gave a sickly moan as Mumbo continued to watch the cooking pumpkin seeds. “I’m hungryyyyy.”

“Be patient. Furnaces only work so fast and while smokers are faster, you always disapprove of how they come out.” Mumbo half scolded the builder.

“They taste funny like that.” Grian complained. Mumbo rolled his eyes and took the baking sheet out of the furnace, placing a second sheet in the now empty space.

“Alright, they’re done now.” He put the seeds into a bowl and then carefully carried it up the ladder to Grian’s nest. “Here you go. I’ve got more cooking now and-” Grian snatched the bowl from Mumbo’s hands and gobbled them up. “And I’m glad I decided to make more. How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I’m about to start molting and my head feels all buzzy.” Grian groaned before stuffing more seeds in his mouth. “Will you still loooove me with all my feathers gone?”

Mumbo covered his face. “Grian, I think you’re delirious.” Oh come on, isn’t it obvious what he means? Mumbo stopped covering his face to look below them. “Hey! Iskall is that you? We don’t need you bothering us right now.”

Grian looked down where Mumbo was looking. “Is Iskall here?”

Mumbo shrugged. “Someone is.” You know, why don’t things burn in furnaces? Mumbo stood up to try and get a better look. “Alright, who is it? Grian’s sick so he really should be left alone.”

Next to him, Grian looked around. “Mumbo? Are you okay? I’m not hearing anyone.”

“What do you mean? They’re quite clear.” Why doesn’t Mumbo just make a super smelter for the seeds instead of cooking them by hand. Bird Grian is best Grian. Guys, which is worse, spoon brain or bird brain. Spoon brain. Spoon brain. Def spoon brain.

Mumbo was looking around him. The voices no longer just being a sentence made him realize that they sounded much closer. Too close for them to be a Hermit on the ground. “What the devil?” He couldn’t see anyone, but he kept hearing people.

“Mumbo? Are you okay?” Grian, though sick, looked confused. Reluctantly the redstoner gave a short explanation and what little color was left on Grian’s already pale face seemed to vanish. “No. No th-they just said they were leaving.”

Mumbo was suddenly being hugged and was enveloped in Grian’s wings. “Grian, what’s going on, what are you going on about.”

“Can you please call Iskall?” Mumbo tried to argue. “Please?” He sounded so worried that Mumbo agreed and before long Iskall had arrived.

“Mumbo? Grian? Are you in here?”

Before Mumbo could say anything, Grian was answering. “Iskall they’re gonna take Mumbo away from meeee!”

Iskall climbed up the ladder to find Grian using his wings to essentially pin Mumbo. The builder looked like he was on the verge of crying while the redstoner looked confused. “I’m guessing he’s not feeling much better?”

“Definitely not. Though to be perfectly honest I’m not sure i’m feeling quite the best myself.”

Iskall sighed and shook his head. “Alright, what seems to be the problem?”

Again, Mumbo didn’t get a chance to speak. “The vault gods are messing with him now! Pixlriffs wouldn’t let me put a claim on Mumbo and now they’re gonna take himmmm!”

“What about vaults?”

“Mumbo noooooo! Don’t listen to them!” Grian actually started crying now. Mumbo had no clue what was going on, but Iskall seemed to have some idea.

“Hey, they’re not going to be taking him anywhere. They caught us off guard when they took Stress Ren and I but we know what’s happening this time.”

“Wait, are the vault gods the one who made you disappear.” Mumbo asked, receiving a nod from Iskall. 

“Why did you have to like vaults so much? Am I not good enough? What did I do wrong?!”

“Grian, calm down, I’m not going to leave.” Mumbo tried to calm the delirious avian. Iskall started to speak, but his words were lost in the middle of all the other voices that reared their heads again. Not wanting to upset Grian, he just asked Iskall to repeat himself, pretending to pull feathers out from his ears though they were really stray ones lying around.

“They won’t really give you any choice Mumbo. They’re just going to take you away if they really want to.”

Mumbo almost spoke but instead nearly fell over as Grian flopped on his back. “I don’t care what Pixlriffs says… I wanna keep him safe!” The avian started using his watcher powers, but that seemed to make him even more sick.

“Alright Grian, calm down. We’re not going to let them take him or-”

Mumbo suddenly found himself in a completely different world. It looked new, or possibly it was just a very underdeveloped area. “Grian? Iskall?” A voice behind him scoffed and he whirled around so see what looked like a young girl who hadn’t been there before. “Who are you?”

The girl rolled her eyes and then pointed to herself. The name’s Drista. And You’re Mumbo Jumbo. Weren’t you listening?”

“Um, I suppose not. I don’t remember that being said.”

The girl crossed her arms and rolled her eyes again. “I guess that makes sense why lots of VGs want you.”

“Veegees?” Mumbo asked, confused.

“Ugh, do they really want me explaining everything to you? I thought being around Watchers and other VG interactors would leave you smarter than this.” Drista jumped down from the stump she was sitting on and crossed her arms. “You like vaults, right?”

“Er, yes. I don’t see why that-”

“And you’re pretty smart.”

“That’s a little debatable and-”

“And you’re hearing voices.” Mumbo wasn’t sure how she knew, but he nodded. “Well, I’m what’s called a Vault God and the other VGs want you to be one too. It’s a big privilege or whatever, so you’re probably going to say yes or something.”

Mumbo shook his head. “What? No. You’re those people who kidnapped my friends and Grian seems like he doesn’t want me saying yes to… whatever all this is.”

Drista waved a hand dismissively. “Your friends were fine, it’s just something we do every however long. It was harmless.”

“They were gone for three months!”

“Yeah, see, that’s not  _ that _ long. We could have kept them a few years.”

“A few years?!”

“Well we didn’t. We know they don’t always live that long.”

Mumbo rubbed his temples. “And so what, you still think after that I would want to be a vault whatever?”

“Why not? Immortality, amazing powers, stuff like that. You might have to mess with your ‘friends’ a little to keep charged up but otherwise it’s fine. And if you don’t want to mess with them, talk to someone else in the family. I’m sure they’ll let you use their wards for feeding.”

“Feed- Are you vampires or something?!”

“Or something. More just mess with people’s minds, get them hearing voices, and the energy that produces powers you. We put your friends in that world because to escape then needed the help from voices so it charged us up plenty. Sure, we could have gotten other people, but it was pretty funny to get people from such a protected world as Hermitcraft to mess with.”

Mumbo shook his head. “No wonder Grian was so worried. You’re dangerous.”

The girl shrugged. “I mean I guess from an outside perspective it seems bad, but it’s different once you experience it. Here, I’ll let you join the fam for a week and then you can make a decision. If it’s not allowed, I just blame it on the usual scapegoat. I’m with him often enough that it should trick them.”

Mumbo tried to say something, but suddenly he was back in Grian’s nest, finding it empty. “Oh dear, how long was I gone?”

From below, Mumbo heard Iskall speak. “Mumbo? Is that you up there?” The mustached man looked over the edge of the build. “Oh thank goodness. You disappeared and Grian panicked. He went through some weird bedrock portal.”

Mumbo saw said portal standing open a few blocks behind Iskall. “Are you able to go through there after him.”

Iskall shook his head. “I mean I might, but I’d rather not risk it and end up dead or something.”

“That is a fair point.”

They waited a while and eventually Grian came out, immediately jumping at Mumbo when he saw his friend. “Mumboooo! You’re aliveee!”

“Yes, of course I am. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, Pixlriffs said I could… wait… M-Mumbo, were you talking with Vault Gods?”

“Yeah.” He answered sheepishly. “At least one of them and they looked like a little girl. Said something along the lines about me being a part of her family for a week? And I assume that means be a Vault God.”

“Mumboooo nooooo!” Grian flopped against Mumbo in a dramatic fashion. This was going to be a long week.

  
  


The next week was a mess. Grian couldn’t stay around Mumbo without feeling worse. Instead Iskall had to pass messages between the two. Apparently Vault magic and Watcher magic did not do well together which is why Grian was sick in the first place, and since Grian inherited the hearing voices problem the rest of his family had, Mumbo found himself accidentally pulling them closer to the surface of Grian’s mind.

Instead Stress and Ren were asked to keep Mumbo company for the week. He felt bad with how his newly appointed powers messed with his friends, but they seemed to understand he didn’t really have a choice. 

When he was pulled back to the empty looking world, he was relieved that it would finally be over. Drista was there again, though her previously green hoodie was now red. “So, are you convinced now? We can make it permanent and you can hang with us and-”

“Definitely not!” Mumbo shouted before she could continue. “It’s hurting my friends and making Grian sick.”

“Grian? Oh the Watcher. Eh, it is what it is. And it’s not that bad. Maybe a week wasn’t long enough?”

“What? No!” Mumbo felt even angrier. “I don’t care how long you try, I’m going to say no! I may like a nice vault here and there, but obviously that’s not what this is all about! I mean the first vault I made on the server was because of Grian, what would I be without him?”

Drista just watched Mumbo, swinging her legs. She was silent long enough and refused to blink so it was slowly creeping Mumbo out. “Oh alright, fine. I’ve got places to be anyway. Maybe we can try again in the future.” And just like that Mumbo was back home. Stress and Ren were staring at him and asked if he was doing alright. He told them the good news, leaving out the potential of another return visit.

The two were glad to leave and Mumbo was able to fly over to Grian’s base. Mumbo could barely get his elytra off before Grian was hugging him tightly. He looked like if he let go of Mumbo for even a moment, he would disappear. His face pressed into Mumbo’s chest and the redstoner patted Grian’s head.

“You’re not allowed to talk with Vault Gods again.” Grian said to Mumbo, even though that didn’t seem like something either of them could entirely control.

Mumbo chuckled and some words slipped out. “Love you too Gri.” Immediately he slapped a hand to his mouth, expecting Grian to react badly to it. He had in the past, mentioning it was related to some bad memories from back when he was a teen. But right now, he seemed okay. In fact he seemed really okay as he pulled Mumbo’s hand away and gave him a quick kiss.

“Grian?”

“Do you have any idea how much all of that scared me, you spoon. I may have a bad past, but I don’t want that making me act in a way that will get me a worse future. Now come on.” And Grian was pulling Mumbo up to where the nest area had been. There were still bits of wheat around, but it seemed to have mostly been dismantled.

That being said, Grian quickly placed down some more bales of hay and had Mumbo sit on them. It wasn’t until his tie was being removed that he started to panic. “Grian what the devil are you doing?! We just got to kissing!”

Grian looked confused before looking at the red tie now in his hands and then at the equally red face of Mumbo. “What?! No! No no I wasn’t going to do that at all! I just-! I’m going to use Watcher magic on you so something like this doesn’t happen again. But it’s going to leave a mark behind so I thought you would want it where it can’t easily be seen. Especially since some worlds aren’t as happy about Watchers.”

Mumbo nodded. He remembered when everyone first found out Grian was a Watcher and the range of reactions that came from it. “I still would have liked you to tell me before you started taking my clothes off!”

“It would be easier if you didn’t wear a stuffy suit all the time and I could just move the collar! And I already had to wait a week since the Vault Gods were messing with you so I was impatient.”

Mumbo sighed and rolled his eyes. He unbuttoned his shirt slightly and revealed his shoulder to Grian. He tried not to squirm as Grian’s Watcher eyes opened and it felt like he had a bad sunburn on the revealed shoulder. When Grian returned to normal, he looked down to see a bright red Watcher symbol that matched Grian’s sweater imprinted on his skin.

“So… will we have to do that often, or what?”

“Hopefully it should last forever, so should be a more one and done type thing, but we can see.”

  
  
  


Mumbo’s eyes widened with recognition. “You’re a Vault God.” He managed to keep the word ‘too’ from making its way out of his mouth.

“Hmm… must be newer than I thought. You know, I was really wondering why hanging around Techno felt so odd.. I assumed it was the relation to Grian since Tommy was also there one time, but Apparently it was just because you were following them around.”

Mumbo didn’t care. “Vault and Watcher Magics don’t mix. Is that why Grian can’t change back? Are you hurting him doing this?”

Dream shrugged. “I’m pretty sure he’s fine. Besides, it’s easier to work with this way. I’m sure why you send a report back to everyone they’ll let me back in.”

“Are you saying you’re some disgraced vault whatever?” Tommy asked, not having as much information as Mumbo and Dream did.

“Disgraced is a bit harsh Tommy. But I suppose it fits.”

“Did you go after Grian because of what he did to you, or because of his relation to some of the people here?” Mumbo asked, wanting to know why.

“Oh neither. I’ve just been looking for a lone Watcher for a while now. Grian just happened to be the first one I found. Who exactly he was was just a bonus. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like him back so I can continue things.”

Mumbo held Grian closer to him. “No! He- He’s a person! He doesn’t belong to anyone! You can’t just use him like that!”

“On the contrary, I’ve already been doing it and it’s actually been pretty easy.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.” Mumbo glanced back at the others. “They were doing fine before you messed around.”

“I’m just trying to teach them all the right way to do things. Tommy messed that up by running off.”

Mumbo just stared at Dream before starting to walk off. “Let’s just try and get to the portal. Hopefully going back will fix things.”

“You can’t just take them. They belong to me! I own this world and they need to stay here.”

“No they don’t. They’re people. You can’t just treat them like they’re things.”

Dream scoffed. “Is that what they’re saying these days?”

“I’m not a Vault God. I’m saying what I know myself.”

Dream didn’t stop Mumbo as he walked off. “If you’re not a Vault God, you’re not fixing that Portal. But something tells me you know that you can fix it, and we both know what that means you are.” Dream smiled and spread his arms giving a somewhat crazed shout. “Welcome to the family! Only a matter of time before you’re just like us!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was able to get all my other work done before posting this, don't worry!


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mumbo can finally go back to Hermitcraft along with Grian, but he's not happy about more than them returning.

The trip back to the portal left Mumbo shaken up. Dream didn’t follow them which seemed like the last thing he would do. Mumbo was somehow able to get parrot Grian to turn everyone back to normal which was  _ fine _ . That was just his Watcher powers. Nothing to do with any Vault God powers he may or may not have. And he didn’t have any.

Eventually the portal was back up and running and Mumbo chose to believe that was just because Dream was lying, or again it was just Grian’s Watcher powers. Or maybe even that he was a hermit and the portal had hermit origins.

The smp members tried to question Mumbo, asking what they would do now. Dream was still on the loose and had more power than they realized. Not everyone was willing to go to Hermitcraft and leave everything behind. Right now, Mumbo was really the only person who might have answers, but he just felt bombarded by their words until he finally snapped.

“Look, I have no clue what to do. I didn’t even really want to be here in the first place. Right now Grian, the person I am closest to is stuck like this even though all of you are fine and I just want to help him before I deal with all of this!”

Mumbo winced when he saw the look on Tommy’s face. “So what, just going to abandon us all then? He’s my brother, bitch!”

“I know that and I am sick of having that thrown in my face! It was bad enough when we didn’t know the two of you were related. I wouldn’t have minded if you never showed up so we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place!”

Tommy froze, only moving to take a step back in shock. Mumbo looked equally horrified at his own words, and not knowing what else to do, he ran through the portal and went back home.

Mumbo hoped that he could just get some peace by going home, but instead, moments after he returned his communicator started buzzing wildly with messages. With shaking hands he tried to turn it off, but instead managed to drop it and didn’t care enough to pick it back up. He grabbed the rockets from his inventory and equipped his elytra to fly back to his base. 

He just got into the sky when another hermit flew past him, likely to greet him. He tried not to curse as they changed their direction to fly after him, and even though he knew it would hardly do anything, Mumbo started spamming rocket after rocket to get away as fast as he could.

He collapsed onto his bed, finally letting go of Grian who started hopping around. He watched the parrot for a while before pressing the palms of his hands against his eyes in an attempt to keep from crying in frustration. Why did they even have a useless spoon of a hermit in this world?

  
  


Grian had completely lost track of how long he had been in this infinite white expanse, but other than the lack of everyone he knew and the occasional having to relive horrific nightmares of memories, it wasn’t all that bad. He had started feeling a little more tired, but he assumed that was more from boredom than anything serious. It was okay since one perk of this place was getting to rewatch the dreams he had just had. 

Not having anyone around was making him feel lonely, so Grian had started to watch the same memories over and over. He memorized his own lines so that way he could talk to his friends and they responded back.

“I still don’t understand why you put Mumbo faces everywhere.” Mumbo seemed to be holding in a laugh.

“It’s a house for you, I had to make it right! Mustaches everywhere!”

“Well I certainly noticed them. Now how about you open the door?” Mumbo gestured to a lever. Grian ignored the tingling feeling that came with intersecting his memory copy as he pulled the lever.

“Oh, well that’s pretty cool.” He echoed as he and his coppy watched the piston door open and he walked in. “But you’ve tainted it with redstone everywhere, look at this! You didn’t even bother covering it up!”

“Wasn’t sure how to go about it and make it look good. Besides, I’m a fan of exposed redstone.”

“Well, we can work on your building skills. What’s this over here?” Grian walked over to the closet and waited for his copy to open it. “AHH! Oh! Oooh. Hah… haha…”

Mumbo started laughing, nearly falling over as his legs became weak from laughing so hard. It no longer scared Grian after watching it so many times, so he just laughed along with Mumbo. “H-How about you go to the study n-next. I-It’s awesome!”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure it is.” Grian tried to stop laughing as he spoke. They reached a sign which he read aloud. “Super Hollywood film set. Oh you’ve redone the whole area, what is this?” Grian watched as he and Mumbo walked around the room. “Super editing suite, activate moving set part two. Part two?”

“There’s more than one, I just labeled them with numbers.”

Grian flicked the lever and watched as cobblestone in front of a bike started to move to imitate a moving foreground. “Oh that’s so cool. That’s so cool!” He flipped the lever for the background. “Oh! It’s for the motor bike!” The copy hopped on the bike and Grian himself found an empty area on the back of the bike to sit. He started making motor noises as the two of them rode the bike, Mumbo flipping another lever nearby. 

Lights came on and Mumbo moved the camera to point at him. “Oh, using your filming knowledge properly I see. Three point lighting system?”

Mumbo nodded, then turned everything off for them to continue. “Let’s continue shall we?”

“Oh, what’s all this?” Grian asked as they came to an area filled with dispensers.

“Well, if you’re going to be filming, you’ll need some costumes.” Mumbo helped Grian into one of the spots and suddenly the builder was covered in gold armor.

“Oh that’s nice. I like that.” As Mumbo tried to go on, Grian doubled back and hit all the buttons, putting all the armor in his inventory. “I’ll just keep that for later. What’s next?”

“Over here. Secret room under the stairs.” Mumbo pulled a lever. The stairs pulled down and Grian was briefly reminded of the shenanigans of the secret base bros. He let himself get distracted by thoughts about that, turning his attention away from the scene. He tried not to listen to his panicked shouts as Mumbo tricked him by closing the entrance behind him.

“Grian, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize that would scare you! Mumbo let the copy of Grian out and the real Grian could see how he almost moved for a comforting hug, something he never noticed when this had all first happened.

“I-it’s fine. Just bad memories. C-Can we continue with the house?”

Grian forced himself to stop thinking of the memory, making the white void return. Being with Mumbo that first time was a good memory. Sure there was that one bad part, but for Grian, that was good too. It showed how Mumbo cared for him all the way back then and how they’d learned more about each other over time.

After calming himself down, he started it up again. “C-Can we continue with the house?”

“Right, let’s go in here next.”

“Wha- MY KITCHEN! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY KITCHEN?!” Mumbo started laughing again.

  
  


‘Anyone could do this. Anyone! Xisuma or Scar or Iskall or anyone else.’ Mumbo thought to himself as he was looking over Grian. ‘I’m just better at this because Grian and I are linked or whatever. That’s all. Nothing to do with this being done by a Vault God and me also being one. Because I’m not.’

Multiple hermits had tried to visit Mumbo, but he had shooed them all off. Stress was the one to stay longest, having arrived with the bots who were complaining about not seeing their dads for a while. Mumbo tried to ask them to leave a few times before he snapped at them. He tried to push the hurt expression that was on Jrumbot’s face out of his mind.

He just had a rough few days. He wasn’t sleeping much and was barely keeping himself from starving. But right now Grian was important. More important than him. He might have had this done sooner, but he was being extremely careful, used to dealing with non-organic things most of the time. 

He’s just wondering if he should look up puzzle boxes, wondering if those would be easy enough to rest his mind with, but also not get too off topic when he thinks he’s done it. “G… Grian?”

“Guh Grian?”

“Do you know who I am?”

“Do know who am. Know who I am.”

Mumbo started crying in joy. “Oh thank goodness! I was so scared you were stuck like this forever!”

  
  


“Tommy...” Grian mimicked his copy, though he was more happy while the copy was more stunned. “How do you know that?”

“What? Blood for the Blood God? My brother says it all the time.” Tommy thought he read Grian’s face well enough. “I’m sorry, I can stop saying it. I know my brother is a bit vio-”

“Techno or Wilbur?”

Tommy paused, he didn’t think he had told Grian their names. “Uh, Techno obviously. I would think if you knew their names you would know he said it. Um, something wrong Big G?”

Grian smiled, his copy continuing to cry. “Tommy… Tommy Tommy… th-they’re my brothers. Oh gods I’m the blood god… that’s what I always called myself. They  _ hated _ it because I always started causing trouble.”

Tommy looked confused. “What are you talking about? I would think I’d know I had a brother named Grian.”

Grian started to open his mouth, ready to mimic his memory, telling Tommy a name he hadn’t used in ages. But instead he suddenly felt like he was falling. Grian let out a yelp in surprise. When he landed the white expanse was gone, but he realized that was from his eyes being closed. Nervously, Grian opened them and saw Mumbo staring at him, seeming quite large.

“G…” He seemed stunned. “Grian?”

Grian let out a little chirp, realizing that apparently his parrot voice box was the one working right now. “Guh Grian?”

“Do you know who I am?” Of course Grian knew Mumbo. Had he not before? Was that why Mumbo looked so worried.

“Do know who am. Know who I am.” Grian used Mumbo’s words to let the redstoner know that he could remember. He then had to hop back as Mumbo started to cry.

“Oh thank goodness! I was so scared you were stuck like this forever!” Stuck like wha- Grian started to wonder before it hit him. Oh, he couldn’t talk right and Mumbo looked so large because he was currently a parrot. Had something gone wrong when Philza was trying to teach him? Honestly, Grian couldn’t remember what the last thing to happen to him was before he ended up in the white infinity room. He had been in there so long and re-experiencing other memories that the one for when this started was sort of… gone.

Mumbo had apparently spoken a little with Philza because he was able to help Grian back to his humanoid self. The builder held Mumbo’s hands to steady himself as though he didn’t remember it, his muscle memory seemed to have gotten used to being a parrot.

“Well, while I’m sure being a bird has wonderful perks.” Grian paused, giving a yawn, still feeling tired. “I don’t think I really want to do that again for an extremely long time if I can get stuck like that.”

“Grian, how much do you remember?” Mumbo asked and Grian shrugged.

“Only thing I’m sure of is that I recently went to see the other Watchers. Something was going on, but that was a while ago and since then I’ve been stuck in an infinity room.” He looked at the worried expression on Mumbo’s face. “Mumbo, what happened?”

“So, the admin from Tommy’s world was a Vault God.” Grian’s wings puffed up at Mumbo’s words. “He ended up messing with your Watcher powers and got everyone back to their world and sort of wiped everyone’s memories. I’ve been here trying to fix whatever he did to you so I haven’t really been paying attention to everything that’s been going on since I got us back. Last I checked they all had their memories back… but Dream might have done something more.”

Grian jumped up. “I have to tell the other Watchers about this. A bad admin is one thing, but a Vault God admin that messes with Watchers is worse!”

“He may also be a sort of exiled Vault God based on what he said.” Mumbo added on and Grian seemed to get even angrier.

“Yep, definitely talking to the other Watchers now. I can’t believe he was right under Gxrgeous’ nose!” A portal opened up behind Grian and Mumbo tried not to look at Grian’s multiple purple eyes. “I’ll be right back. And Mumbo?” Mumbo looked up. “Take a shower. While I like that you spent all your time looking for me, I don’t think I even need enhanced senses to tell you need a shower.

Mumbo laughed sheepishly and then got up to do that. Grian chuckled in return then walked through. “Hellooo? Pixlriffs? Zloy? Gxrgeous? Any of you around?”

“Oh my god, Grian you’re alive!” Grian was suddenly tackled from behind.

“Noah! Ugh, get off my literal back!” Grian flapped his wings pushing the Evo Watcher off. “I’m looking for the hermit Watchers and Gxrgeous. You seen them?”

“Yeah, they’re busy freaking out about Gxrgeous’ world. You and Mumbo went through and then they lost connection to it completely. What happened?”

Grian shrugged. “I thought they would know better than me.” He lightly knocked the side of his head. “No memory of what was going on. Mumbo says the admin from there was a Vault God the whole time. I can’t believe I didn’t see it from the start.”

“You mean Dream? He’s a Vault Go- ohhhhhh. Dream… Dreamon. Why didn’t we realize that at the start?”

“Yeah well, something that should really be talked about with Watchers other than you since at this point I really want to connect the worlds so he can’t do anything more to my family.”

“Right, Pretty sure they’re this way.”

  
  


The talk had gone well and Grian was surprised to see the Vault Gods so willing to work with them on this. Grian supposed it was because of Dream’s status, but it was still odd to experience.

Zloy had given him a new communicator because his old one had ended up broken somewhere in the mix of things. The moment he was back out of the portal, he started to send a message.

<Grian> Based on what Mumbo said, they’re not here sooooo

<Grian> Where are my children!

<GoodtimewithScar> GRIAN!!!

<Stressmonster> They’re with me. Are you doing okay?

<Zedaph> Since he’s not here, I’ll do it for him

<Zedaph> *fortnight dances*

<ZombieCleo> He would NOT!

<Grian> Speaking of, where is Tommy?

<TangoTek> No clue, he didn’t come back with you and Mumbo.

<Impulse> Don’t text and fly Tango

<TangoTek> He knows what he did

<Zedaph> welp, bye! *default dances away*

<TangoTek> ZED!

Grian chuckled at the messages before sighing and flying to where the infinity portal was. He was glad to see it still sitting there and what looked like someone’s pet cat nearby. The avian was surprised when he landed and heard said cat speak.

“Hey! Can you get my friends? Dey went in there and haven’t come back and Sprinklez said I can’t go through.”

“Sure, I’m going in to get some people myself. Who are you after?”

“Tommy and Tubbox. Dey wanted ta be my friends and we had fun until a big bird thing attacked us!”

Grian winced, realizing that most likely was him. “Yeah, sure I was after Tommy anyway.”

Crumb nodded, but then thought of something. “Wait, Sprinklez said I couldn’t go alone, but but but, he didn’t say I couldn’t go with someone else!”

Grian smiled a mischievous smile and then pulled out his communicator. He asked Crumb’s name and then sent a message.

<Grian> Hey, I’m going with Crumb to pick up some people. Be back soon!

<CaptainSparklez> What? Where?

<Crumbl> Tommmu ans Tubboc

Before Grian could look at whatever was sent back, he gave out a mischievous cackle and picked up Crumb, taking them through the portal.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grian finds Tommy to bring him home but Tommy isn't sure if he wants to.

Grian regretted going through the portal almost immediately as a wave of nausea hit him. “Are you okay mister grain?” he gave a weak laugh at Crumb already figuring out that nickname.

“Yeah, just didn’t expect this place to be so charged with Vault God energy. Oof, no wonder I can’t remember anything. Can you try sending a message to Tommy?”

“Ye ye ye!” Crumb replied before tapping away at her own communicator. She stopped, jumping as someone wearing a white mask with a black symbol on it landed in front of them.

“Heyyyy!” Grian pointed finger guns at the Watcher that landed in front of him.

“Xelqua. What are you doing here?”

Grian frowned, recognizing the voice. “Ugh, Lynn… Look, I’m just here for my family and a friend of Tommy’s. I didn’t know it was going to be this bad.” He fumbled as Lynn threw an identical mask to the one she was wearing to him. He put it on and felt relief as it helped stabilize him a bit, though he could feel it activating his Watcher powers further. “If you know where they are, I can be on my way.”

“Fine, try not to take too long.” She gave Grian some directions before leaving.

Grian went to pick up Crumb, but found her looking a little scared. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Well, when me and Tubbox was getting flown away by the big bird, it made a portal dat looks like dat.” She pointed at Grian’s mask.

“Oh, yeah that bird was probably me. It was very much on accident though as you can see that is not happening this time.”

Crumb stared at him, half surprised, half skeptical, but mostly confused. “Are you a shape shifter like me den?”

Grian chuckled. “Nope, just an avian. Okay maybe not just. I was born an avian and then made into a Watcher, and to show off power they get wicked cool forms that sort of reflect who they are. Since a good number of Watchers are human based in origin, they basically turn into what people think of as angels. That’s… actually probably where those came from.” Grian shrugged. “Eh, who knows, it was who knows how long ago. Let’s just go find your friends.”

When Grian walked into the building Tommy was hiding out in, he got stabbed. He knew that it made sense, but he couldn’t help but look down at the sword. “Ugh, not again.”

His voice seemed to help the others figure out who he was. “Grian?”

“Hi Tommy! Sorry if I scared you. It’s just I kinda need to wear this mask or else I’ll feel sick and drunk at the same time or something.”

“Tommy an’ Tubbox!” Crumb jumped at the pair when she saw them, shifting to a hybrid form midair and then hugging them.

“Crumb!” Tubbo hugged her first. “Are you doing okay?”

“Ye ye ye!”

“Everything should be okay here soon guys. I’ve got some friends who are definitely going to take care of Dream for you guys once and for all. At the same time, I talked and we’re really going to make a permanent connection between here and Hermitcraft so you can visit all the time. Admin duties will be shared between the servers, but X said he won’t step on any toes, it’s just as a precaution.”

Tommy crossed his arms. “And what are you doing about your boyfriend?”

Grian hesitated at the lack of Tommy using Mumbo’s name. “You mean Mumbo? I mean, he’s a disgusting mess after barely sleeping and eating taking care of me, but I’m sure he’ll get better. Unless you’re concerned about how he was after being here, because again, bit of a mess but he’ll be fine.”

“Not going to get upset at me coming back?”

That really made Grian pause. What was Tommy talking about? “What do you mean Tommy?”

Tommy didn’t respond, just getting so angry he could barely say anything, so Tubbo answered for him. “Just before Mumbo left with you, he yelled at Tommy. He sort of said he wished Tommy never showed up in your world.”

Grian frowned. “Well, you’re fine to come back. I’ll make sure he has a stern talking to. Come on, let’s go back to the portal.” Grian then looked over where Techno and Philza were playing a game of… well Grian wasn’t sure, but it looked like some kind of board game. “You can come too if you want.”

Philza shook his head. “No. Whatever Dream did turned Wilbur back into a ghost, so someone showed up and took him away to fix that. We’re going to wait here until he’s back to normal.”

“Oh, alright then. Well, don’t be a stranger or anything. C’mon kids!”

“Hey! I’m not a kid!” Tommy complained, just making Grian ruffle his hair.

“Were it not for the laws of this land, that being you’re literally my brother, I might have adopted you. Also if we maybe had a few more years between us.”

Grian dropped off the trio at Tommy’s tower before flying to Mumbo’s base. He set his mask down on a table and then walked to where Mumbo’s bedroom was, surprised to hear the shower still running as he passed the bathroom. Grian paused and knocked on the door. “Mumbo, when you’re done in there, we need to have a chat. I’ll be waiting by the counter.”

Grian sat down on the ledge in front of the life counter of Mumbo’s base after feeding it an apple. He stared out at the jungle, waiting for Mumbo to arrive. He finally heard the redstone walk up behind him and then started to address him. “Mumbo, look. Tommy told me you-” He turned to look at Mumbo who was dripping wet. It was like someone pushed him into a pool while he was wearing his suit. “Mumbo why are you all wet?”

“You said to take a shower.” Mumbo said like how he currently looked was the most normal thing in the world.

“I didn’t mean in your clothes! Oh my god, go get changed!”

“I thought you wanted to talk?”

“We can do that after you’re dry!”

Mumbo was quiet before speaking again. “You know I don’t really have another suit.”

“You have your bamboo one!”

Again, he was quiet for a worryingly long time before he just sat down next to Grian. “Can we just talk and get this over with?”

Grian was reluctant and nodded. “Tommy said you yelled at him.”

“I know… I was upset. A lot of things had just happened and with everyone with amnesia, I was really the only one who was able to do much. And Dream had messed with you so I was angry. I barely got to sleep, and we had just had a war with that guy and we were all over the place and I just sort of… lost it.” Mumbo started to lean on Grian’s shoulder, but quickly stopped himself. “Through all this, you’ve been focused a lot on Tommy and your family, and everything else, but you weren’t really…”

“Oh Mumbo. Why didn’t you say anything?” Grian realized what Mumbo meant.

“Well, I sort of knew Tommy was sort of the priority. Plus you had a lot on your plate. I didn’t want to put more on there.”

Grian nuzzled against Mumbo’s chest, not noticing how he stiffened up. “Mumbo, I’m not going to stop loving you. I’m just going to have love for my family too. You know how we hermits need to be there for each other, and Tommy is a hermit too.”

“Yeah…”

When their comms buzzed, Mumbo gave a small sigh as Grian sat up to look at the message. He saw there were actually a few he had missed and laughed a little at them. “Looks like Crumb’s dad is looking for her but he was told he’s at my mansion. I’m going to fly over there and take him to Tommy’s tower since that’s where I left them. If you want we can talk more later.”

“Go deal with them first. And can you tell Tommy what I said?”

Grian nodded and then flew off to his mansion. He quickly arrived since it wasn’t too far even on foot. “Hellooo? Crumb’s dad? You in here?” He called out before spotting an unfamiliar man. “Oh, hey there. Sorry that Crumb’s not here. She’s actually at Tommy’s tower. I can take you there if you want.” Grian stood there as the man in front of him stayed quiet with his back turned to the avian. “Uh, hello?” He then put a hand on the man’s shoulder.

Sparklez jumped slightly, shocked out of his train of thought before he whirled around and saw Grian.

“Hi! Sorry if I scared you. Crumb’s not here, but I can take you to her.”

“Is… Do you live here?”

Grian nodded. He must not have seen many of the other bases. “Yup! Built the mansion myself. Why?”

Grian’s eyes widened as the man held up a lost child poster. “Where did you get this?”

“Uh, that’s from my old world. The kid’s not mine though. Just sort of-”

Grian was cut off by Sparklez. “I know he’s not your kid. He’s mine!”

“Oh my god you’re the captain.”

“Yeah, I am. People don’t normally call me that.”

Grian just grabbed Jordan’s arm. “No, argh! I mean… Tubbo’s here! Your kid is here! They’re with Crumb and Tommy right now.”

“You mean… that kid… with the green shirt, red bandana. That’s him? The whole time that was him?”

“Oh great, looks like you’ve seen him already. That should make things less awkward. Even more of a reason to go over to the tower. Let’s go!” Grian grabbed Sparklez and pulled him over to an ender chest to hand him some spare elytra and rockets. After he had put the wings on, they both got into the air and then flew to the tower.

When they landed, Grian had to hold Jordan back because he looked like he was about to tear the tower apart. “Hey Tommy!” Grian shouted up to the tower. “Are you guys still there?” When the blond called back in affirmation, Grian shouted again. “Can you three come down here? It’s important!”

“Give me a second! I need to grab some more elytra. Hey can you remind me to change the floor 2 elevator to a down tomorrow?”

“We’ll see. Might be busy for us then.”

In a few moments, Tommy was gliding down with Tubbo, Crumb in Tommy’s arms. Crumb was the first to see Sparklez and frowned. “Aw myan… do I have to leave?”

Her dad didn’t answer as he half stumbled towards them and then held Tubbo in a bone crushing hug.

“Ah! What’s going on?” Tubbo, having no context was confused.

Sheepishly, Grian gave the answer. “So remember how you said you went missing when you were little and couldn’t find your dad? I found a missing person’s poster? Well, Crumb’s dad is the one who made that poster… making him your dad too.”

Everything was silent as everyone comprehended the news, Sparklez just holding Tubbo close and not wanting to let go, but finally Tubbo half screamed from being so surprised. “He’s whAT?!”

Mumbo sat in his room, still dripping wet. He knew he could just go sit in front of some lava or stand in the nether for a while if he felt daring, but instead he was just sitting in his room leaving a puddle behind. He wasn’t sure why he set up an ice mirror, but there it was, waiting for him to take his shirt off.

He just stared at himself, trying to will himself to move, but it just wasn’t working. So he tried talking to his mirror self. “Alright Mumbo. Stop acting like a spoon and just look. It’s going to be there. He was lying and Grian seemed fine when he left. They’re supposed to stay forever. A few years won’t do anything to it.”

Still, Mumbo didn’t move, he just kept staring. “Fine, if that’s how we’re going to do it, I’ll just go ahead!” He closed his eyes and took his tie and jacket off. His hands trembled as he got to the buttons of his dress shirt, but then he steeled himself and undid two of them, pulling his left arm out of the sleeve. There was no hiding it now. He would open his eyes and right there, on the skin just under his clavicle, Mumbo would see it.

The redstoner took a deep breath and opened his eyes, looking into the mirror. He was staring at his face and now where he should, but it was hard to look away. No, he told himself. He had to look and put this all past him. He shifted his gaze and his heart dropped. It was gone, like it had never been there at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> commint? bookemarke? idk how to make kudos sound silly. i just crave affirmation.  
> (fun fact, if you don't know what to comment, just put a keysmash or something. it's just nice to see names instead of numbers on the screen. anywho sorry if i'm pressuring youuuuu)


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tubbo is finally reunited with his dad while Grian has important talks with various people.

“Holy fuck you’re my dad. The captain is my dad.” Tubbo was stunned, still trying to comprehend it. Crumb on the other hand already accepted it. 

“I’ve got a big brudder! Tubbox is my brudder!” She was running around happily and eventually decided to just sit on Tubbo’s shoulder.

“You’re the kid of a celebrity Tubbo!” Tommy slapped a hand on Tubbo’s back in celebration. “Does this mean I can be your plus one to fancy events and shit?”

“I’m not really that kind of celebrity.” Sparklez rubbed the back of his head. “I mean I’m well known, but that’s mainly because I travel a lot.”

“Sprinklez is definitely a celebrity!” Crumb said happily, her tail flicking about. “Millions of people know him! He’s been so myany places!”

“Wonder how Kara’s going to react to all this. ‘Oh hey Kara, remember how I wouldn’t be available for a few days and now it’s been longer than that? Well found my long lost kid!’ I mean it works, but that doesn’t feel right.”

“Is Kara my mom?”

Crumb, feeling a bit chaotic at the moment, answered the question for Tubbo. “Ye!”

“No! No she is not!” Jordan immediately shouted. “That proposal was for being her thousandth kill or something, not for getting married!”

“Honorary mom!”

Sparklez inhaled sharply before sighing to calm himself. “Yes, fine. If you want to think of her like that, sure. Don’t know how she’d react if you call her that though, so maybe don’t actually say it aloud.”

“How’d you even lose him?” Tommy spoke up. He knew Tubbo’s side of the story, but he was a child at the time and it was around ten years ago, so the details might not be accurate anymore.

“Tubbo was really curious as a kid. Always following me around everywhere no matter how much I tried to get him to sit still. He got interested in almost everything I did. We were visiting one world, Univcraft, and I was just driving around.” Grian’s feathers puffed up at the name of the world. “Tubbo was in the back in his seat, but was getting restless. Next thing I know, he had managed to unlock and open the door.”

“Did you keep driving?”

“No! Of course not! I slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car. Forgot to put park on at first and it started to roll away on its own before I could jump back in to fix it. Tubbo wasn’t in his seat so I assumed he fell out when the door opened but he was nowhere in sight. There seemed to be no evidence and the weirdest part was that he would have had to unbuckle himself from his booster seat and they were all still done up.”

Tubbo’s eyes widened. “I remember that! I… I think when I first realized I wasn’t in the car anymore, the first thing I was upset about was not being in my cool racing harness.” Tommy started laughing. “Hey! I was five!”

Sparklez couldn’t help but chuckle along with Tommy before pulling Crumb and Tubbo into a hug. “Both my ducklings are finally with me.”

“Duckling?” Tommy asked with a mischievous grin.

“I said Tubbo followed me everywhere. He also liked bees a lot so wore yellow half the time. He reminded me of a little duckling.”

“I remember wen Sprinklez cried wen we went to space an I followed him around in my yellow space suit!”

“Okay Crumb, don’t need to bring that up.”

“Hey, if you can say embarrassing shit about me, let her say embarrassing shit about you.”

Jordan winced slightly. “I guess that’s fair. So, what’s your life been like? I can tell you’ve been… active.” He vaguely gestured to a visible burn scar on Tubbo, which made the teen slump their shoulders a little. Tommy pulled Tubbo away into a protective hug and Grian put a hand on Sparklez’s shoulder.

“To put it lightly, they’ve been through hell. I’m pretty sure the only reason he’s doing as good as he is right now is because of Tommy. Don’t expect him to open up about everything right away. Give him space before you start asking questions.” Grian glanced over to the duo and Tommy gave him a quick thumbs up. “Trauma sucks, but having someone there to be supportive, even if you don’t know them as well as you should, is really helpful.”

“Thanks.” Sparklez gave Grian a short nod. 

“Well, I’m sure you guys will have a wonderful time together, but I still need to go see Xisuma and give him updates on… well, everything.”

“See ya Big G.” Tommy said to Grian before the avian was flying off.

  
  


Mumbo was trying his best not to completely panic, but he was slowly failing. “No no no no no. It  _ has _ to be there! Why isn’t it there? Is it because of the ice? Is there something with ice?” Mumbo looked down at himself and still saw no symbol. “Maybe it was whatever Dream did. That’s surely something that wouldn’t be accounted for.”

“It wasn’t him, idiot.” Mumbo’s blood ran cold and he turned around to see Drista sitting on a chest. “Obviously it was you. I thought you knew VG and Watcher magic doesn’t mix.”

“This is. No. I, I’m not a Vault God. I refuse.”

“Again with the refusing. It worked before but it won’t now. I told you it was only a matter of time.”

Mumbo was in a state of complete disbelief, trying to find some excuse. Then his disbelief turned to anger as he thought of something. “No, this is your fault. You were keeping in contact with Dream. He said you were. You didn’t do anything.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t do anything. But you did instead. And how did you do that? Became a Vault God.”

“Well tell me how to unbecome one.” Mumbo demanded. 

“You pretty much don’t. That’s why Dream was able to do what he did. Even exiled, he was still a Vault God.”

“Please, there has to be something.” Now he was starting to plead with Drista, hoping for some glimmer of hope for him.

She tilted her head from side to side as she thought about the question. “Well, technically you’re not completely official. In fact I’m here to bring you to that. Maaaaybe if you say something to them, you can get some exception.” She paused to shrug. “Who knows. They may just force you to be one.”

“And if I don’t go?”

“You’ll still be a Vault God, just unstable. Though I will say, you’re doing pretty well on your own.”

Mumbo didn’t care to ask what she meant. He had to go. If he went there was at least some percentage of a chance that he could go back to normal. If he didn’t, he would absolutely end up hurting Grian. “Alright fine. Where do you need to take me?”

Drista smiled and pulled on a mask that was almost identical to the one Dream had worn. “Just follow me.”

  
  


Grian spun the chicken feather that was his quill on the table as Xisuma talked. Sure, this was all very important, but the avian was already bored. He kept asking more questions that should have been answered already, but the admin was too focused on the answers themselves to think about the entire context. “I said that it’s going to be like another dimension already. You can’t get to other dimensions without a portal. Think of it like a third being tacked on. And fourth since they have their own nether.”

“What about their end?”

“Again, they haven’t seen it because Dream destroyed all connections to it.”

“And the Watchers?”

“Are combining groups and are adding in two new Watchers to keep things running smoothly.”

“Any previous relation with Zoy and Riffed?”

“Zloy and Pixlriffs, and no. Petrichor and Meraki are just helpful with world crosses. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Can I go yet?”

Xisuma paused, tapping his helmet where his chin would be. “Alright, but I’ll be sending messages to you, so look out for those and try to respond quickly.”

Grian nodded and passed the book and quill over to Xisuma with the notes he had taken. He then got up from his chair and stretched before flying into the air. Now that Xisuma was dealt with and Tommy was occupied, next was getting the kids from Stress.

The avian flew over the desert between Xisuma’s jungle and the one that he, Stress and others lived in. He smiled as he passed Mumbo’s base, though he had to steady himself when his flying became a little wobbly. He brushed it off as him just getting distracted and then landed near where Stress said she would be.

“Dad!” Jrumbot was running up to Grian and the avian picked up his robot son in a hug. “You’re okay again! Daddy was really worried about you.”

Grian quickly gave Stress a thankful nod for her looking after the bots. “Well it wasn’t the best situation, but he figured it out like the smart man he is. Now speaking of him, we should go see him. He needs some more cheering up and love. Think you can help with that?”

Jrumbot nodded and then Grian helped him onto his own back, right between his wings. As the younger of the robots held tightly to Grian, the avian picked up Grumbot and then thanked Stress before flying towards Mumbo’s base. As they approached, Grian suddenly felt much more tired than he had moments before, so much so that Jrumbot slapped his face slightly to wake him up so he didn’t crash.

“What?! Huh? Oh right, I’m flying! Sorry boys, guess the meeting with Xisuma took more out of me that I realized. At least we’re almost there.” And he landed at Mumbo’s base, only stumbling slightly.

“Are you alright dad?” Grumbot asked Grian, who gave a nod.

“Yeah, ‘m fine. Oh, that reminds me. Thanks for your help. We found Tubbo’s dad.”

“While I’m glad I helped, you shouldn’t be trying to change the subject.”

Grian sighed, having forgotten how well Grumbot could read him. “I’m fine. I just want to find Mumbo and then we can all go to the big bedroom and hang out there.” He helped Jrumbot down off his back and ruffled his wings before folding them “Mumbo! I’m here with the kids!”

There was no answer making Grian frown. “Maybe he’s tired like you and went to sleep?” Jrumbot suggested.

“Yeah, might be.” Grian then pulled out his communicator to send random messages to Mumbo to either follow the hum of the vibration of a message or to wake Mumbo up with the sound. He sent off one message and was just starting to type another when he got the error message. “Wh- Mumbo’s not here.”

“What do you mean not here?” Grumbot asked, worried by how worried Grian looked.

“I… maybe he went back to the other world? But everything’s connected now, that shouldn’t be an issue.” Grian continued to worriedly ramble. The bots looked at each other and then took Grian’s hands, pulling him to where Mumbo’s bedroom was and got him to lay down on the bed.

“Do we need to get anyone?” Grumbot asked. “Iskall or Stress? Possibly Xisuma?”

Grian shook his head. “We just left Stress’ place. She’s helped plenty. And Xisuma is busy with the world merge. Iskall… they might be available, but message them first.”

Jrumbot’s screen face changed briefly. “Okay! I did it!”

Grian nodded then curled up in the blankets. He really felt tired now and a bit woozy. He gave a groan. “Ugh… Dream was a Vault God and I was around him for who knows how long. Plus I went to visit again… maybe there’s magic sticking to me or around here.”

“Are you sick again?”

Grian gave a half hearted nod. “Yeah, now both of you come here so I can cuddle you. That’s the best kind of medicine right now.”

Jrumbot immediately jumped into the bed and curled up in Grian’s arms. Grumbot on the other hand, wasn’t as fast. “Contact with people is usually not a type of medicine and I’m sure us not being humans makes it even less effective.” But despite his comments, he also joined his brother in Grian’s arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhljn;ergogkfvsd i didn't expect people to actually leave comments.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mumbo is ready to reason with the Vault Gods in hope of being able to go home and not hurt the people he cares about.

Mumbo walked down a hallway behind Drista. It looked like something Scar would have made as it looked more like a decorated underground tunnel than anything else. Stones of different types lined the walls and some vines and grass were present here and there. He kept trying to ask questions to pass the time, but Drista always shushed him. 

Since he couldn’t really have a discussion with her, he just looked at the walls around then that looked worn by time. Some ores were present in the walls, though they weren’t any Mumbo recognized. When he looked away from them, the redstoner could see what looked like the tunnel widening up ahead, likely to a room or sorts, though based on their surroundings, it could be more along the lines of a cavern.

He was right as when they stepped out of the tunnel, the ceiling was still made of rocks, but the room itself was filled with life. Trees of varieties he had never seen before littered the area. Leaves of blue purple and gold were scattered around and hanging on the trees. Flowers of every color. A small pond to the side, small lily pads covering a good portion of the surface. It was beautiful.

“Alright, a couple of the fam are headed over here to talk with you. Don’t go wandering around because this place is like a labyrinth and you don’t have the ability to get out yet.”

“You sound like you’re going to leave me here.”

“Cuz I am.” And with that Drista ran off down another tunnel that connected into the room. With nothing to do but wait, Mumbo wandered around the cavern, trying to not stray too far from where they had entered. He really decided to stay close when he saw what he thought was an armor stand wearing armor, slumped against a wall. When he got closer and noticed the skeleton within that was obviously not a reanimated monster, he made sure to run back and stay in place.

After he started to become a bit restless again, Mumbo was slightly glad to see people approaching him. All of them wore some sort of mask, which unsettled the redstoner a little bit, but he remembered how Drista and Dream had worn some of their own, so it must have been a Vault God thing. Come to think of it, Grian also showed off a Watcher mask once. Did these higher beings just wear masks?

“We do indeed. It hides the self and keeps us separated from those we… work with.” A chill went up Mumbo as he realized that they had just read his mind. “Yes, another reason for the mask, though that enchantment could be placed on anything.”

“Should I just ask questions in my mind then?” Mumbo asked, now trying to keep his mind empty.

“Nah, just Song being cryptic and stuff.” A new voice spoke from the Vault Gods and one wearing a mask that resembled a turtle slapped the back on the head of one wearing a mask decorated in music notes. “We can control it easy enough, some people just get used to various powers and tend to overuse them.”

Mumbo sighed in relief at the casual tone from turtle mask. He had no clue what to expect from whoever he would meet and assumed they would be very strict and cold people. “I see. Well, speaking of powers…” He trailed off, not sure how exactly to ask.

“Drista’s kept me updated.” Another new voice spoke. They gave a small wave when Mumbo tried to figure out who was speaking. He had to shift a little to see them properly, but taking a step to the side, the redstoner would see their mask which seemed to be a generic green alien. “You don’t want to be a Vault God, but you used your powers out of necessity.”

“I shouldn’t have any to begin with!” Mumbo argued. “I said no the last time Drista showed up and they went away. It wasn’t until I found Dream that anything happened again.”

It was quiet after he shouted, long enough that Mumbo was beginning to worry he shouldn’t have said anything.

“That does change things.” Someone in an earth mask stepped forward. “Due to Dreamon’s work with the abandoned Watcher he obtained.”

“His name is Grian.”

“Yes, that one. He was able to shield his world from the sight and hearing of both us and the Watchers. His abundance of power is likely what pulled yours out again, not true willingness.”

“Are you saying you can do something about it? I don’t want to be one of you. Grian’s a Watcher and he’s told me many times that your magics don’t mix. I lo- We’re… really close to each other. I don’t know what I would do if us being around each other caused problems.”

Again, there was silence from the Vault Gods. This time Mumbo wondered if, being able to read minds, they were communicating telepathically. “I suppose there is something that could be done.” One of them finally spoke up and Mumbo sighed in relief. “Masks are usually used as a limiter, that is due to enchantments, but others could be placed on it so it has the opposite effect.”

“That being?” Mumbo asked.

“It can be so that only when used will you be able to access your self as a Vault God. That being said, to do that, more than just powers would need to be sealed within the mask.”

“I would be able to stay around Grian though?” Mumbo asked, not caring about any side effects if it would get him what he was after.

One in a mask that seemed to house an entire galaxy spoke up next. “Yep, pretty much any Watcher if you really wanted to. I mean, doubt you’ll be around many, but hey, if you help out when we have to deal with… or I guess work with other Watchers, it would help.”

“Then I’ll do it.”

  
  


“Ey Big Geeeeee!” Tommy burst into the room, followed by Grumbot who had led him there. “Tubbo went with Sparklez to go see some of his family. Meaning time for you and I to get back into things. What are you thinking? New normal war to teach people things? Invitations to the upside down? Take people on base tours and blow their minds? Or maybe we go with the tried and true chicken bombings?”

Grian just rolled over in bed. “Noooo. I wanna go but everything’s catching up to meeee. I’m a messssss.”

“Dad is feeling sick from bad magic that was left over in your world.”

Tommy sat down and slumped. “Great, another thing Dream messed up. Can’t you just do some shit to get rid of it and be better already? The longer we wait, the less fun it might be.”

Grian gave a small hum as a signal that he heard Tommy. “Yeah. Left it on a table. Mask I was wearing when you stabbed me.” He pointed in a general direction and Tommy left to grab it. While he waited, Grian curled up more, wrapping his wings around himself. He was glad that the feathers helped muffle the sound around him which was starting to give him a headache. Stupid living base that you could hear everywhere.

When Tommy returned, he tugged gently on one of Grian’s wings. Because of the avian’s current state, he panicked and hit Tommy away with the wing. The blond was pushed back, glad his armor negated whatever damage that would have caused. “Sorry for startling you. I found it.”

Grian took the white mask from Tommy and put it on, glad that it started to block out whatever was making him feel sick. “Oh, that’s much better. So, what were your ideas again?”

  
  


Grian, Tommy and the bots were enjoying themselves as they returned to Mumbo’s base. Jrumbot was admiring the diamonds he had scammed someone out of while Grumbot put away the last of the discs he had been playing around, making sure he couldn’t be seen while they played, confusing whoever heard them. Tommy had emptied a shulker box of eggs onto the smp island and Grian had placed signs all over the place with cryptic messages.

“Oh man. We need to get Mumbo and get him to drag some people into Hermit Challenges.” Grian said through his laughter.

“I dunno. Me and him aren’t really on the best terms right now.”

“I know, but that’s exactly why you should do it. It’ll give you the chance to clear the air and ask why he was so upset.”

“Daddy yelled at us too.” Jrumbot looked up briefly from his diamonds. “Auntie Stress took us to see him but he got upset and wanted us to leave.”

“I wasn’t able to get a good look, but he had seemed scared. People tend to have different reactions when they are scared. Some get angry, others panic, even more just hide it.”

Grian picked Grumbot up in one arm and nuzzled him. “And we’ve all been through a lot so we know that. Mumbo hasn’t been through nearly as much. It would be better if it never happened, but the fact that it took so long is a good sign.”

“I guess.” Tommy responded, but he still seemed upset.

Just before they reached Mumbo’s base again, there was a burst of energy that came from it and Grian narrowed his eyes behind his mask. “They were told to stay in your world.” Then before Tommy could ask what Grian meant, the Watcher set the bots down and shot up into the sky so fast he left some feathers behind.

He scanned the base until he spotted a figure and dove towards it, landing nearby. “You shouldn’t be here. This is Watcher claimed. Get out before I make you!” He almost growled at them. He was prepared to shove them through a rift to send them to smp island and then throw them through the portal when the figure turned.

They wore a familiar suit, except for the fact that it was stained a bright red color. They wore a metal mask with piercing red eyes, and most importantly, a mustache. “Grian.”

Grian’s eyes widened. “M-Mumbo…” The Watcher felt himself start to cry. This couldn’t be happening. Mumbo had said no. Why would he change his mind? And he had protected Mumbo so this could never happen? So why had it? “Mumbo… please… why? Why would you-”

He didn’t get to continue as Mumbo pulled the mask off his face and discarded it by letting it drop to the ground. He followed it, collapsing to the floor and Grian rushed to him. Before he could do anything though, he noticed the lack of any foreign energy in the air. “Oh Mumbo… I’m sorry I thought you said yes.”


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mumbo wakes up, and everything can finally calm down. At least, as calm as it can be with these two worlds mixed together.

Mumbo groaned as he woke up, most of his body aching for some reason. Looking around, he was glad to see he was in his own bed at least. Next to him, curled up in the covers was Jrumbot who seemed to be hooked up to his redstone chargers. Mumbo patted his son’s head before pushing himself up so he could look around.

Grumbot was propped up in a nearby chair, also asleep and charging. The door to the room was cracked open and Mumbo could hear voices coming from somewhere behind it. His eyes were then drawn to an item frame with a mask of his robot skin. At least it seemed to be similar if not exactly the same. Most likely Grian had hung it up because he sure didn’t himself.

Mumbo dragged himself out of bed and walked towards whoever was talking. Getting closer, he could recognise Tommy and Grian’s voices, but there seemed to be a third person there as well. It was probably someone from Tommy’s old world, so Mumbo wasn’t too worried.

Before he could quite tell what exactly they were discussing, they stopped as Grian noticed Mumbo walking their way. “Mumbo! You’re awake!” The avian went over and hugged Mumbo before pulling him over and using the redstoner as something to lean against, nearly pushing him over in the process. “How are you feeling?

“Like I got crushed working on a redstone project with pistons. What are you wearing?” Mumbo saw Grian’s Watcher mask, not having seen it before.

“Oh this? Well… uh, you hit your head pretty hard back there, what do you remember?” Even though the mask covered Grian’s eyes, he could tell that the avian was sending glances to Tommy and the other person in the room.

“I remember up to confronting Dream after we got you back. But much after that is a bit fuzzy. I still remember bits and pieces of course.”

“Told ya.” The unfamiliar voice spoke and Mumbo finally got the chance to turn and look where their guest was sitting. He almost drew his weapon when he saw them, but he held himself back.

“Why’s Dream here?” Mumbo hazarded a glance back to Grian, hoping for an answer but Tommy was the one to answer instead.

“Not Dream, this is Drista. She’s Dream’s sister but she’s cool.” Mumbo accepted that answer as he could see the resemblance with their taste for similar mask styles.

“Yep, sorry about that. You panicked and attacked and I clocked you over the head.” Mumbo frowned at her cheerful tone but then Grian spoke and drew his attention away from the girl.

“As for the mask, while I’m mostly fine, there’s still some stuff I’m recovering from and the Watchers panicked since someone was able to mess with me and gave me a prescription for these. I might even keep them because it helps me not go crazy when in a Watcher State.”

Mumbo nodded, glad for the explanation. Then he turned his attention to Tommy. “Tommy? I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier. I wasn’t in a good headspace at the time. I of course can’t recall everything I was thinking at the time, but either way, I want to apologize.”

Tommy just rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Grian told we what shit was going on since he talked with you. It doesn’t fucking matter.”

Mumbo started to open his mouth to reply, but Grian stopped him. “Can you go wake the kids? They’ve been charging for a while and I think they’ll want to be up now that you’re awake.” The Redstoner hesitated, but did agree and headed back to his room. Once he was far enough away, Grian sighed. “That was close.”

“I’m sure he won’t have a complete mental breakdown if you bring up the VGs.” Drista said, leaning back against the wall behind her. “If anything happens, just slap the mask back on and then pull it off, it should pull it away.”

Grian crossed his arms, wings folding tightly behind him. Even though they couldn’t see his face well, he still looked down to the ground. “It still doesn’t feel right. He essentially is always going to have one part of his life he can’t remember.”

Drista gave an exasperated groan. “Oh stop complaining! He wanted this because he wanted to stay with you for whatever reason. He can always just stay a Vault God and you can never see him again. How’s that sound?” Grian was quiet. “That’s what I thought. Welp, now that we know he’s fine, I’m out of here.” And then she was gone.

* * *

Tubbo didn’t stay with Crumb and Sparklez for too long, needing to get admin training from Xisuma with Ranboo. Xisuma would not admit to a single person how many times he needed to take something for the headaches he got from teaching the two of them, but after interacting with the other smp members, he was perfectly fine with the current pair.

The smp island didn’t last long as members griefed it so many times that Scar finally threw his hat down and said he wouldn’t fix it anymore. He tried two more times after that, but it was the principle of the matter. The area was moved further away to a larger chunk of land that wasn’t too close to anyone’s base so that way the smp members could still have a place to start in Hermittown but also have areas to expand to. Most people went back and forth, though Philza seemed to be taking up a permanent residence in the town. 

Grumbot went to visit his grandpa once, but he quickly was given the rule of not being able to go alone after that when he immediately tried to set up an election for mayor of the town. Techno tried to attack him, but he forgot the details of Grumbot being a robot, specifically one that had extensive knowledge of political figures, and Techno being both a former prince and an anarchist, the bot had a good idea of how to defend against the warrior. He still needed repairs when Grian arrived to scold him, but no one died.

After Tubbo had learned enough from Xisuma, he went back to traveling around with his dad and Crumb. It would never be longer than a week, but it was painfully obvious when he was gone as Tommy would seem down. At the very least there were a few times that Tommy was able to go along with Tubbo to see the sights.

Tommy and Mumbo eventually warmed up to each other again, mainly because Grian forced them to do more things together. They finally seemed to officially be on good terms after dragging a few smp members into Hermit Challenges together.

Grian attempted another war, which started poorly as the smp members jumped to conclusions and escalated on their own. Tubbo and Ranboo had to step in to stop it for the hermits to give them a rundown of how wars worked on the server. There were a few hiccups after that, but for the most part, things went well.

After Hbomb had first gotten a tour of the server and had seen Cub’s base, he ended up mining a large amount of ancient debris and making a wall of it on the smp side as a social experiment. It lasted longer than he thought, but still didn’t last all that long. After a few weeks he made a second one and was pleasantly surprised to see it stand longer than the first had.

With Dream gone, things started to calm down for the smp members, but a number of them still tended to wake up thinking things were back how they used to be. Mumbo ended up buying a space close to Odea and making a therapy shop which did quite well. He was also pleasantly surprised to see the Odea store suddenly getting sales as the smp members seemed to actually want the services.

* * *

Grian sat on the railing on the balcony of his mansion, right under the large G. Next to him was Tommy and they looked down at the two teams of four people doing a barge box quest. Grian specifically wanted two hermits and smp members on each team for a better balance and he had even reduced the prices for the smp members specifically. Sure it was a competition, but really Grian wanted the two worlds to get along.

“Didn’t Scar say you did this in the last one?” Tommy looked over at Grian who didn’t take his eyes off the people below.

“Hmm, sort of. It’s a little different. They’re placing blocks instead of putting them in the chest. Mumbo helped with the redstone for it. It cycles placing blocks inside so you can’t just take them all out and not do anything. There’s a delay once the last block is out so after a short bit they’ll get their note saying where to fly to next.”

Tommy nodded, glad Mumbo wasn’t the one telling him this and making it sound even more complicated. “How’s he doing by the way? That war got a little crazy near the end.”

“He’s fine. I made up some excuse for the mask. Accidentally overcharged it with Watcher magic so only for extreme emergencies.”

“Sorry for being busy end-busting.”

“Not your fault. It sounds like it was fun.”

Tommy laughed. “Yeah, Tubbo only tried cheating once. Xisuma noticed almost immediately and called him up to scold him. I didn’t even realize he was doing it in the middle of a fight.”

“Speaking of, why didn’t Tubbo bring you back when he teleported home to deal with things?”

“So we could continue once he was done with that. We want to kick back and relax, not get in another war.”

“Oh, I see how it is. Our wars are too good for you!”

Tommy and Grian laughed until Grian noticed one group start flying off, the second group not that far behind. “Alright, time to head to the third checkpoint. You want a head start before I beat you there?”

“Hey Big G, that’s not fair. You got those fucking wings of yours.”

“That’s why you get a head start.” Grian smirked, making Tommy realize what was about to happen and he immediately jumped off the balcony and used a rocket to propel himself in the direction of the next checkpoint.

“See you later bird boy!”

“Not if I get you first!” Grian yelled back. He would give Tommy a few minutes, but then the gloves were off. He loved how grumpy Tommy looked when he carried the blond while flying. And any chance to make a little game of it was something Grian liked. “Alright, that’s enough time.” And then he was in the air, flying off towards his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of the story. If you see the chapters though, you'll see that there's space for one more, and that's because I want to get comments from you guys about the story. Maybe if you have questions about it, want more info on the storyline, or want to know some what-ifs. I'll put all those into parts of a chapter which i'll post in a week or so.   
> Maybe I might change it so we have two of those chapters, but basically, it's just a way to get you guys involved since the whole reason I had such a fast upload rate is because of your guys' comments. Sure I liked writing the story, but hearing from you guys made it so much easier.


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